Please Be Home for Christmas
by ShinyShiny9
Summary: Everyone wants to be with their family or friends for Christmas, right? But it's not always that easy, especially when you've told G.U.N. they can put you on-duty for Christmas Eve. And this year of all years, staying home would be nice . . .
1. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Xmas

**'Tis the season, my friends! Christmas fic, comin' right up. But first, no less than four warnings:**

**Warning one: Maria the Hedgehog, SonicSong182 style. **

**Warning two: Pretty heavy Christian themes. Happy to have you here, but I don't want to force anything on anyone. If this is going to be uncomfortable or annoying for you, it's okay if you go ahead and skip on to some other fic—I won't mind.**

**Warning three: Dialog- and exposition-heavy, almost no real action. It'll bore you sick, believe me.**

**Warning four: No promises about keeping in-character, particularly Shadow. Where Maria's concerned, all bets are off.**

**Now, enough with the hazard briefing! If you're still there, grab some eggnog and get comfortable. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co., or the songs mentioned!**

* * *

Ahhh, Christmas. It was always a somewhat giddy time on Mobius, with the usual nonsense from Eggman getting blurred and tangled together with a mess of tinsel, trees, and scrounging for appropriate presents. Somehow everyone managed to find the time and energy to be ridiculously cheerful and merry and good-spirited, a real nightmare if you were a Scrooge. But you'd better not be a Scrooge, because Scrooges were dealt with very severely on Mobius. With fruitcake.

Shadow had learned to tolerate all the festivities, even vaguely appreciate them. He didn't grudge the others a bit of reveling, but all the same he left the reveling solely up to them. He did very much like the abundance of sweets that came with the season, though.

Mixed blessings, the holiday brought. G.U.N. missions got harder in the snow. One had to worry about leaving footprints, as well as freezing one's nose off. On the other hand, in between the chill and adrenaline, an atypical, pleasant sort of drowsiness permeated G.U.N. headquarters; as if to tell agents that even here, it was all right to relax a little in between life-or-death situations.

There was a radio playing in the G.U.N. rec room. It was an old-fashioned boom-box affair, merrily blasting a slightly scratchy and bass-challenged version of "Jingle Bell Rock." Not too many were around to hear it, since most agents were spending as much of their free time at home as possible.

Nearby, however, a gloved hand was dangling languidly towards the floor, swinging lazily. Its owner, Shadow, was flung lengthwise on one of the rec room sofas, with one leg folded carelessly over the other and his gaze fixed on the ceiling. He seemed to be ignoring the music entirely, judging by the complete disregard his swinging hand showed for the song's beat. A casual observer would think he was lost in his own little world; however, Rouge was watching from a nearby armchair with great interest.

_Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock!_ intoned the radio earnestly. _Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring!_

Swing, swing, swing, went Shadow's hand, his eyes roving lazily over the ceiling tiles.

_Giddy-up, Jingle horse, pick up your feet!_ continued the radio.

Swing, swing, swing . . .

The happy little bridge choir started up: _Jing-jing-jingle bell, Jingle Bell Rock! Jiiiingle bells chime in jingle bell_—

A sudden flash of motion, and a sofa pillow was hurtling across the rec room. It smacked into the radio, sending it crashing to the floor. The device had a pretty sick sense of humor, though; instead of dying honorably it switched channels and began to blare "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer."

Shadow groaned in annoyance and rolled onto his stomach, pulling another sofa pillow onto his head. He'd heard them all, and he'd heard them quite enough. Rouge giggled, having been expecting more or less this chain of events.

"You know, you could always get up and turn it off the civilized way," she postulated, not expected much response.

She got a baleful look from one red eye.

"Since you're supposed to be so awesome and fast and all," she continued.

The eye slipped shut stubbornly.

"Lazybones," she chuckled, and flapped lightly out of her chair and towards the prostrated radio. The music was wearing thin for her, too.

"So are you going to lie there all day?" she asked, flipping the switch. "Or do you want to go train or something?"

"I'm waiting for a briefing," replied Shadow.

"Can't you train while doing that?" Rouge persisted.

"No." Shadow was all powerhouse when there was something actually going on, but periods of inaction always cast him into an indifferent lethargy. Also, since Rouge wanted him to move, there was all the more case for staying put.

"You would do better to keep your physical condition favorable," warned Omega, clanking into the room. "Even a robot of superior quality becomes stiff when inactive. You organics become thoroughly pathetic."

"Mnyah," yawned Shadow, stretching. He glanced over idly and sat bolt upright.

"What," he demanded, pointing, "is _that?_"

"This?" enquired Omega.

"That," confirmed Shadow.

"This is a hat."

"Well I can see that," said Shadow, surveying the object in question blankly. "Why are you wearing _that hat_?"

"Christmas is approaching," replied Omega seriously. "As most organics wear some external decor for the season, Rouge thought it appropriate that I also participate in this tradition."

"Oh, so this is your doing?" Shadow turned to Rouge. "Seriously, now. Did it _have_ to be a Santa hat."

More of a statement than a question. Rouge was unruffled.

"He asked me himself," she smiled. "He wanted to know if there was a way he could dress up for the holidays like Mobians do. How could I not help him out?"

"Help him out," said Shadow drily. "With a Santa hat."

"No?"

"We're going to be the laughingstock of the agency."

"What makes you so sure? You'd need a sense of humor to know that."

Shadow rolled his eyes resignedly. The bat was off her rocker, and arguing with the rockerless was always a waste of time.

"So, training?" asked Rouge brightly.

"Whatever," sighed Shadow, getting up.

They were still in the midst of a three-way sparring match when they were summoned for their briefing. Standard jive—first half of tonight, second half of tomorrow night, blah blah blah—only there was an extra note for Shadow.

"And you've got your assignment for Christmas Eve," said the second-in-charge who was giving them their briefing. They all kind of liked the fellow; Frank, his name was. He was a solid guy. "They want you up in Holoska, to investigate some serious electrical disturbances that have been taking place in the southeast portion. Details in the briefing folder."

Shadow nodded seriously, tucking the folder under his arm. He could feel Rouge's surprised eyes fixed on him, but he didn't let on. Not wanting to make a fuss in front of a superior, she also held her peace.

At least until they were out in the hallway.

"What's that I heard?" Rouge asked immediately, her tone already edging into the accusatory as she caught up to Shadow. Omega kept a slight distance away, sensing that things were about to go rapidly downhill. "Do my ears deceive me, or did he say you had an assignment for Christmas Eve?"

"Yes, I do," said Shadow, his stride not wavering.

"But agents are supposed to get the day off, Christmas Eve and Christmas!"

"Only if they identify as Christian."

"B-but—you—"

"You're the one who snoops around on every G.U.N. agent's profile," said Shadow quietly, sparing a glance over his shoulder.

"I didn't even look at the "religion" heading, I thought it was a given!"

"Well, I'm listed as 'non-religious'," said Shadow, turning back and still continuing down the hall.

"What?! Why?"

"Because that's what I told them I was when they took down my info."

"But—don't tell me—" Rouge scrabbled for the right words. "You're telling me you don't believe in—"

"I'm not necessarily saying that," grated Shadow, clearly unhappy with this conversation. "Drop it."

"No I will not!" Rouge caught up to Shadow, grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun him around to face her. "Look me in the eye, Shadow the Hedgehog, and tell me what it _is_ you're saying."

Shadow didn't look her in the eye, but shrugged her hand off firmly, making his point—he would not be pushed around.

"Shadow!" she half-growled.

"There's nothing to say." He looked away. "I'm not demonstrative. You know that."

Rouge rolled her eyes silently, her stance still accusing. She wasn't yet satisfied with the answer.

"I don't hold for rituals," continued Shadow, turning away. "G.U.N. needs all the help it can get, since so many of its agents take Christmas Eve off. Since I am listed as non-religious, I am a candidate for Christmas Eve missions."

"But why would you say that? You're going to just leave us on Christmas Eve?" persisted Rouge.

Silence. He began to walk away.

"Shadow!"

Still not a word. He swung around a corner and was gone.

. . .

Elsewhere on Mobius, a small brown-and-green bundle burst out of a neat little house tucked under the eaves of Blaze's home and began to tear around in circles in the snow. It happened to be Marine, trying to restrain herself from nagging her teammates. At last she tore over to Silver's house, which was right nearby.

"Hurry up, Silva, hurry up!" she chanted, dancing in the snow. "You're sapposta get the tree _before_ ruddy Christmas, mate!"

"There's plenty of time," assured Silver, stumbling outside still wrapping a scarf around his neck. "We just have to go and find it."

"Doesn't that usually take a long time, though?" asked Blaze, joining the other two. "I've often seen books and television portraying the search for a Christmas tree as a long process. It seems that finding the perfect tree is very difficult."

"Not this year!" said Silver proudly, puffing up his chest. "I already found the perfect tree."

Marine's dancing stopped immediately.

"Oyyyyyy, Silva, you picked a tree withou' us?"

"Not really, not really," said Silver hastily. "You see, I was just out on a flight near the woods a few weeks ago, and I saw a lot of evergreen trees growing near the outskirts. I just happened to stumble across one that was just _perfect_. There couldn't be a better tree in the world, believe me! But we kind of have to find it all the same, because it's still out there. And if you don't like it, we can still look for a new one!"

"But how do we know if it's the same one?" asked Blaze, pulling her scarf tighter. "Many trees tend to look alike . . . "

"Don't worry," said Silver confidently. "It had a bit of red ribbon tied to it. That's how we'll know it was the one!"

Then let's go, Silva mate!" whooped Marine, stampeding off with all her might.

"We're going to lose her at least once, aren't we?" sighed Blaze good-naturedly.

"I say twice for sure," chuckled Silver. "At least we can follow her footprints." He glanced at the erratic curlicues of plowed-up snow, twirling back over themselves. "Or maybe not."

. . .

Over in the Chaotix headquarters, Vector was yawning cavernously and leaning back in his office chair, waiting for a call to come in. Business usually slowed a bit during Christmastime, but Team Chaotix didn't mind too much. Charmy in particular had bigger things he was thinking about; he was sprawled on the floor with a passel of crayons and an oversized sheet of paper, meticulously scrawling something in green block letters.

Espio glanced over the little bee's shoulder and gave Vector a worried look. Vector came over to see what was up. Charmy had drawn, in marvelous detail (for a six-year-old), a striking red-and-blue snare drum, with two drumsticks and a lot of musical notes. Above it he was still busily scrawling, "DAER SANTA, PLEEZ GIV ME A DRUM FOR—"

Charmy stopped his laborious efforts and looked up at his teammates.

"How do you spell 'Christmas'?"

"Just say 'Xmas', kid," said Vector hastily. "X-M-A-S."

Pulling Espio aside, he tapped at his ears—or the headphones over his ears—and gave the chameleon a pained look. Espio nodded glumly. Either Charmy was going to be very disappointed on Christmas day, or his teammates were going to be very deaf _after_ Christmas day. Clearly the wheels in Vector's head were already turning.

. . .

"One little, two little, three little treesies!" Marine's voice rang in the distance. "Four little, five little, six little treesies! Seven little, eight little—"

"At least we know where she is," chuckled Silver wearily. "Maybe it's better this way."

"Are you sure we're going the right way, though?" asked Blaze, shivering as a cold breeze whipped through her bundled hair. "I feel like we're going in circles."

"It's got to be around here somewhere," said Silver firmly. "I know I was in just about this neck of the woods when—"

"I FOUND IT!" Marine squalled from somewhere nearby. "Roight on! The champi'on-est tree-finda in alla Mobius, that's me!"

Exchanging wry smiles, Silver and Blaze broke into a trot towards the sound of Marine's shouting. Very soon they came across a fine tall fir, with a red ribbon flapping briskly near the top.

"That's the one all right!" cheered Silver. "Hey Marine, where'd you go?"

"Nowhere mate, I'm right 'ere," called Marine, popping out from behind another fir tree. "Whattaya doin' ovathere, the tree's ovahere!"

"But this is the one with the ribbon," said Silver, pointing.

"Then what's that then, eh mate?" demanded Marine, pointing at an identical red ribbon tied to the tree she was guarding.

"Wait, two?" Silver squinted at the two trees blankly.

"No, three," said Blaze suddenly, pointing to a third tree. "There's another one over there."

"And one here too!" cried Marine. "And two more there! They all 'ave ribbons!"

"Wasn't there a fairy tale like this?" asked Blaze uneasily. "Where they marked every door in town with a chalk X so the villains couldn't find the one house they'd marked before?"

"I don't see how that'd work, unless the forest doesn't want us taking its trees," murmured Silver. Suddenly he smacked his forehead. "Oh no . . . I get it now. This must be a tree farm."


	2. Been an Angel All Year

"Don't even _think_ about it."

Knuckles spread his arms out protectively, blocking Rouge from diving at the Master Emerald. The bat twitched her ears below her fluffy hat.

"You better be nice to me, Knux," she warned teasingly. "Or I won't give you the cocoa I brought."

Knuckles scowled at the thermos Rouge shook in his direction.

"I wouldn't drink that anyway. How do I know what's in it?"

Rouge shrugged, uncapped the thermos, poured a little of the contents into the cap, and tossed back the steaming liquid.

"Believe me now?" she asked, holding out the thermos and lid together. Knuckles twisted his mouth suspiciously, but at last reached out and reluctantly took the proffered drink.

"So what's the catch?" he asked, stopping just before pouring himself a capful. "You're trying to sweeten me up because you want something, aren't you?"

"You wound me," huffed Rouge, folding her arms and looking away in mock pain. "When did you become so mistrustful, Knuckie?"

"I don't know, ever since I met you?" grunted Knuckles.

"Insults, insults, that's all I get. And here I was trying to be nice!"

"Seriously?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow at Rouge dubiously, then suddenly grinned. "Ohhhh, I get it! You're hoping to squeeze onto Santa's 'nice' list at the last minute, aren't you?"

"No!" Rouge pulled out her most innocently wounded expression.

"Yes you are. You just don't want to admit you're busted."

"Perish the thought, you horrendous echidna. Or better yet, just perish."

"Getting snippy now, huh?"

"Hmph." Rouge flapped lightly up to land on top of the Master Emerald, sweeping aside a sparse coating of snow and settling down cross-legged, arms folded. Knuckles opened his mouth to warn her off, but shook his head and reconsidered. Keeping a sharp eye on the bat, he sat down and began sipping the hot chocolate straight from the thermos. As long as Rouge didn't try anything, he could tolerate her presence for a while.

"So how about this," she hypothesized at length. "I've been good all year, except I've got an evil alter ego that I can't control, and it's been getting my good side into trouble entirely against my will. How's that sound?"

"Desperate."

"Well, maybe I am," sighed Rouge.

Knuckles rolled his eyes silently and carefully swirled the hot chocolate in the thermos.

"I mean, I happen to _like_ coal." Rouge tossed her head. "But this year I had my eye on something else."

"Uh-huh."

"But I'm not telling you. You'll see what it is when I get it from Santa."

Knuckles nodded ironically, which Rouge shouldn't have been able to see from where she was sitting. Still, she must have sensed it.

"Don't get smart," she warned, propping herself up on her elbows and peering down over the edge of the Emerald. "I'm still more likely to get on the 'nice' list than Shadow. He's gone and skipped out on us for Christmas."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Knuckles, twisting around to look up at Rouge.

"He's gotten himself a mission. He'll be in Holoska on Christmas Eve."

"Huh." Knuckles shrugged and turned away again. "You don't say. I might be away on Christmas Eve too."

"Wait, what?!"

"I've got some stuff to take care of. Might get it done before Christmas, but might not."

Rouge slid far enough off the edge of the Master Emerald to look Knuckles in the eye, upside-down.

"You," she said, jabbing him in the nose, "had just _better_ get it done."

"What's it to you?"

Rouge narrowed her eyes warningly. Knuckles returned the look. They glared each other down in silence for a moment. Finally Rouge blew out a puff of breath annoyedly and swung lightly upright, brushing herself off.

"Fine, you monstrous monotreme. Be that way. Don't blame me if the Master Emerald's long-gone by the time you come back, though."

"I won't blame you," said Knuckles drily. "You wouldn't try to steal it with Santa watching, now would you?"

"Ahh," muttered Rouge. "This whole 'being good' business is the world's worst ripoff. There oughta be a law . . . "

Still muttering, she spread her wings to take off.

"I'll try," said Knuckles suddenly.

"What?" Rouge turned back.

"I'll try to make it back in time. Really."

Rouge looked away for a moment, then smiled slightly and nodded. As she took off and vanished beyond the snow-coated treetops, Knuckles gazed pensively into the thermos and swirled the now-lukewarm cocoa.

. . .

Meanwhile, as darkness descended early over Mobius, winter-style, Silver and Blaze trudged homewards. They were dragging a very small and scrawny fir tree between them; it was thoroughly lopsided and looked strangely akin to a dry-clean-only gown after a spin cycle.

"Nasty old tree," said Marine sulkily. "I'll bet there wuzza better one."

"Marine, it's getting dark," sighed Blaze. "And believe me, we're not going to find any better-looking trees than this out in the wild. Only farm trees that get carefully taken care of look that neat and fancy."

"Hmph," muttered Marine. She had wanted to buy a tree from the farm they had stumbled on, but the prices were a bit out of Silver and Blaze's range. They had gone back into the scrap of woods that nobody owned, but the trees there weren't quite as dashing as your usual store-bought specimen. Marine was not amused.

"Just you wait Marine, once we get it all dandied up, it'll look great!" assured Silver.

"Like a great disaster," muttered Marine grumpily.

"Marine, if you're going to be sulky about it, nobody's forcing you to help decorate it," said Blaze wearily.

Marine folded her arms and sulked harder; she wasn't quite disgusted enough to skip the decorating part.

At length they got the tree home. They were planning to set it up outside, between Silver and Blaze's houses, so they left it lying in the snow while Blaze went to turn on the porchlight and Silver went to get the tree lights. Marine was going to follow, but stayed behind a moment to glare at the tree.

"Dumb ol' bag o' needles," she muttered. "You're missin' 'aff your branches on the left side, you know that?"

Grumbling, she kicked moodily at the base of the tree trunk. Abruptly, one of the branches that had gotten bent back during transit slipped free and sprang back into place with a _snap!_ Marine yelped and jumped back.

"What's wrong?" called Silver, appearing with an enormous tangled bundle of Christmas lights.

"I kicked that old rotter of a tree, and it tried to kick me back!" fumed Marine, stamping her foot.

"Well then, better not kick it again," said Silver drily. He knew Marine's imagination got overactive sometimes.

With Silver's psychokinesis, getting the tree upright was no problem. They fastened it firmly to its base and started to wrap lights around it. Marine helped untangle the lightstrings, still grumbling and refusing to look at the tree.

At last, once the lights were on, Silver and Blaze both went inside to get all the ornaments, again leaving Marine alone.

"Hmph. Well, you can't kick me now, can you, you scruffy ol' tree," scowled Marine. "You think you're all fancy just 'cos you gotta couple lights? Ha! Ridiculous, that's whatcha look."

She shoved the tree lightly to show her disapproval. It creaked softly and began to tilt—towards her, no less.

"Strewth!" yelped Marine, running for her life. Silver and Blaze came back outside to find the tree sprawled on its side, and Marine hopping with rage.

"Nasty old bucket o' branches tried to _fall_ on me!" hollered Marine. "It's got a temper meaner'n old McGillicuddy's goat!"

Silver and Blaze exchanged glances and sighed.

"Guess we'll have to give it a sturdier base and tie it down to some stakes," said Silver. "Are you okay, Marine?"

"Yeah, yeah, no thanks to old Scruffy 'ere," muttered Marine.

They set the tree up sturdily this time, so a hurricane couldn't have knocked it over. Marine was still uneasy, but since Blaze and Silver were right there, she helped hang up the ornaments, glaring at the tree all the while.

"There! Done!" said Silver, taking a step back. "Yup, that's one good-looking tree."

"You're right, it doesn't look scruffy at all anymore," smiled Blaze. "Wait . . . what about the star?"

"Whoops! Forgot that!" said Silver, and disappeared back inside. Blaze surveyed the tree again, enjoying the soft glow of the colored lights glinting off the ornaments.

"It really is quite attractive now. What do you think, Marine?"

Marine, arms folded, huffed and stuck out her lower lip. She had to admit that the tree didn't look half-bad, but she wasn't about to admit it out loud.

"You know, I think I have some little silver bells somewhere in a closet," said Blaze thoughtfully. "They would look wonderful here. I'll go get them."

She went inside, and Marine was yet again left alone with the tree. The little raccoon didn't attempt to approach it this time, but she glared at it suspiciously.

"You'd better not try anything, you ol' monster," she muttered. Abruptly one of the ornaments slipped off, shaking the branch it had been hung too close to the end of and bringing several other ornaments down with it. The effect was quite alarming; Marine yelped and jumped back again.

"You have it in for me! You really have it in for me, you scruffy ol' tree you!" she hollered, shaking her fist in the tree's direction. Silver, reemerging with the light-up star for the treetop, shook his head wearily.

After adding the star and silver bells, they figured they were really done. Silver wanted to take a picture of Blaze and Marine standing in front of the tree, but getting Marine to stand that close took some convincing. She fidgeted uneasily next to Blaze as Silver clattered around inside his house.

"Can't you find the camera?" called Blaze.

"No, I have no clue where it's gone!" Silver called through the open door. "I could've sworn I left it here . . . "

"Let me help look for it," sighed Blaze good-naturedly, heading for the house. "Hang on Marine, this'll only take a second. No need to go tracking more snow into Silver' house."

"Wait! Blaze mate!" wailed Marine. "Don't leave me alone with this bloodthirsty ol' tree! He's gonna try _eat_ me next!"

"Just don't provoke it and you'll be fine," said Blaze over her shoulder.

"Oyyyy, mate, when you come back and find only my ol' scarf lyin' in the snow, and the tree makin' satisfied chewin' noises, you'll be sorry!" hollered Marine.

"It's vegetarian, don't worry," called Silver, laughing.

"You're 'orrible! All of you!" shouted Marine, and stamped her foot. Getting no sympathy, she turned to glance anxiously over her shoulder at the tree.

"Nice tree . . . niiiiice tree . . . " she ventured, backing away slightly. "I'm not gonna touch ya, see? You're a nice, nice, good tree, arencha? I mean, I'm sorry I said all that stuff, you r-really look kinda spiffy now, ya know that?"

A slight breeze blew, making the silver bells on the tree jingle slightly. Marine tilted her head, surprised.

"You're not mad at me, mate? So c'n we be friends, then?"

A stronger breeze set the whole array of bells tinkling, and some of the ornaments clinking gently against each other.

"Oy, mate! You're not so bad at all!" grinned Marine, and hugged the tree. Silver and Blaze, who had just come back outside with the camera, exchanged blank looks.

. . .

As detailed in the briefing, Team Dark was due on duty the first half of that night. It was a standard run, with only a few stealth jobs, a basic patrol, and HQ fiddly-type of stuff. They assembled in the darkness outside HQ and set off towards Station Square, where their first mission was.

Rouge said nothing, but it was clear that she wanted to, and it was only a matter of time until she would. Shadow was in no mood for that; he nodded silently to indicate he was going ahead, then boosted easily away from the others. He'd wait for them at the mission start point.

On the way, however, he very nearly ran over something pink and red. He carved hard to the right to avoid it, but all the same it squeaked and threw its groceries up in the air.

"Eep! Sonic?" squealed what turned out to be Amy. She squinted through the darkness. "Oh, it's just you."

Shadow rolled his eyes. He was used to this type of greeting from Amy, particularly after dark.

"You've got a lot of nerve, nearly running me over like that!" scolded Amy, starting to gather up her scattered groceries. Shadow hesitated, but at last sighed and began to half-heartedly help her.

"Fruitcake?" he asked, picking up a jar of candied cherries.

"You bet!" said Amy, smiling bravely. Now that her annoyance had cooled a bit, she had remembered to be a little frightened of Shadow like she usually was. She was pretty sure he wouldn't hurt her, knowing he was overall a gentleman, but she still didn't want to risk pushing him too far.

"I'm making a double batch this year," she ventured. "I know last year it disappeared really fast, so hopefully this time there'll be enough to last till Christmas Eve."

Shadow nodded; Amy's fruitcake was legendary. Her friends always joked that you could convert the most adamant fruitcake-hater with a single bite of that stuff, but they never actually tried that. Truth be told, they didn't want anyone else finding out the secret, because then there'd be even more competition for the treat.

"I'm saving a loaf of it all for Sonic," said Amy conspiratorially. "I know you like it too; do you want me to save you a loaf as well? I can give it to you as a Christmas Eve present!"

"Thanks, but I won't be here for Christmas Eve," shrugged Shadow. "I've got a mission then."

"What?!" Amy dropped all her groceries again. "What kinduva heathen organization gives you a mission on Christmas Eve?"

"I'm a candidate," groaned Shadow, knowing where this was going. "They only give you Christmas off if you identify as—ah, you know . . . "

"And you _don't?_" Amy's eyes were wide. "Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"Is it the end of the world?" asked Shadow coldly.

"I know, I know, I—" Amy raked her fingers through her quills. "I mean, if you don't want to be one, nobody's going to force you, but I always thought it was a given, I never thought you weren't—" Breaking off, she sighed and started gathering up her groceries yet again. "I have to say, I'm a little sad. You really don't believe in—"

"That's no business of yours," cut in Shadow sharply. "Who said anything about that? Being classed as non-religious doesn't say anything about what I believe in or don't belive in. It just shows I don't care enough about it either way to choose a side."

"Why don't you care?" asked Amy softly, stopping to look up at him.

Shadow shut his eyes and turned to leave. Amy bit her lip.

"What about Rouge and Omega?" she called, standing up. "Does that mean they're going to be away too?"

"No. They both get Christmas off."

"You're _kidding_ me!" Amy seemed to go ballistic all over again. "You're telling me a _robot_ has more faith than you? A freakin' _robot?_"

"Possibly."

"A freakin' robot . . . " murmured Amy, shaking her head.

"I never thought of Omega as particularly 'freakin''," said Shadow drily.

Amy said nothing, but bit her lip again, disappointment clear on her face. Shadow growled under his breath.

"What's it to you?" he asked at last. "I'm not pushing you around telling you what to believe. You don't push me around, how about that?"

"I'm not," said Amy quietly, turning away. "I'm not. You do what you want. We're gonna miss you on Christmas Eve and Day, though."

Shadow blew through his nose annoyedly as Amy walked away.

"What's going on?" called Rouge, as she and Omega caught up to Shadow at last. "Hey Amy, that you?"

Amy glanced back over her shoulder and waved, but kept right on walking homewards, cradling her jumbled grocery bags. Shadow rolled his eyes and glanced up at Omega.

"Well, are you?" he asked ironically.

"Am I what?"

"Freakin'."

Omega gave Shadow a dubious look, but didn't attempt a reply. Experience had taught him not to try answering questions that he didn't understand.

"Let me guess," said Rouge, folding her arms. "Pinkie's leaving us for Christmas too, isn't she?"

"No. We were having a conversation," retorted Shadow, walking ahead.

"Yeah, right," scoffed Rouge, figuring it out. "You know, I don't blame her for being mad. That was a lousy idea on your part."

"You're going to force me to say I'm Christian when I'm not?" said Shadow impatiently, glancing back.

"What makes you so sure you're not?"

"I don't care enough about it to say that I am," shrugged Shadow. "I don't bother with any of the usual nonsense involved in it, and neither do you, for that matter. The only difference is that I don't lie about it to get extra days off."

Rouge's ears flicked back ever so slightly. There was no other obvious change in her demeanor, but Shadow knew that ear-flick meant he'd pushed the wrong button. For the rest of the night, the two of them conversed just as they usually did—but only when strictly necessary. When they stopped to eat several hours later, Shadow took out the cookie provided in a standard G.U.N. box meal—the only really palatable part of any G.U.N. box meal, for that matter—and pushed it silently across to Rouge. She pushed it back without even looking up.

Yup, she was mad all right. Shadow shook his head in annoyance and ate the cookie himself.


	3. I'll Be Home for Christmas

If Shadow was dwelling on anything the next morning, it wasn't G.U.N. He'd gotten a message from Dr. Eggman, asking him to come over to his base post-haste.

Now, any other Mobian would have headed for the hills at that kind of a summons, but Shadow was as ever the exception. For one thing, he was on more or less neutral terms with the doctor, choosing to hedge his bets should the balance ever swing against Sonic's favor. For another thing, and a much bigger thing, Maria. The little hedgehog was officially under Eggman's custody, since they were blood relatives; thus, she stayed with him most of the time. Even so, Shadow wasn't going to twiddle his thumbs and stay away. If Eggman hadn't allowed him onto his base, he'd have broken in regularly.

But luckily, Eggman did allow him in. As Shadow approached the outskirts of the walled compound, several security robots turned sharply to face him. He felt the warm stroke of scanning lasers pierce his fur, then a series of affirmative beeps.

"SECURITY TEST POSITIVE," droned the head 'bot. "PROCEED."

Shadow stalked through the gate, barely sparing the robots a glance. They weren't sentient, and he wasn't one for conversation anyway.

Slipping in through the heavy steel doorway, he entered a cavernous front room. It seemed quiet enough, but had Sonic or anyone else stepped in here, they'd be doing some pretty heavy-duty dodging. There were hidden security lasers all along the walls. It was a strange feeling, knowing you were the only one who could ever see this side of things, that you lived balancing between two worlds while most people existed in just one.

From down a hallway on the right came a pattering of small feet.

"Shadow?" The pattering turned to a scamper, and a warm pair of arms wrapped around his waist tightly. "Hi, Shadow!"

"Hi," smiled Shadow, ruffling Maria's hair. "How have you been doing?"

"I've been fine," piped Maria. "I'm so glad you came to visit; do you want to come see the tree?"

Shadow shrugged and followed Maria back down the hallway.

"How do you like it?" asked Maria shyly, leading Shadow into a room and showing him a little artificial tree, neatly decorated.

"It's nice," said Shadow, studying it. He had little taste for these sorts of things, but no sense in saying so.

"Thanks. Oh, and I have cookies! Want one?" called Maria from across the room, pulling a tin off a high shelf. Nodding his thanks, Shadow took one of the cutout cookies and bit into it, while Maria grabbed her own.

"These are store-bought," she remarked, smiling slightly at Shadow's cautious chewing. "Rouge and I tried to bake some last time I visited, but in the end we gave up and went out to buy some."

"Hmm," said Shadow, reassured. He eyed a small fluffy wormlike thing draped over the arm of an armchair.

"What's that thing? Some kind of Christmas decoration?"

"Oh, this!" smiled Maria. "This is Fuzzy. Uncle Julian says we can't have pets on the base, but this is sort of my pet anyway. Look, there's a little bit of fishing wire tied to the nose, and you loop it on your finger like this—" Holding up her hand with Fuzzy twined into her fingers, she pulled evenly on the fishing wire with the other hand, making the little fluffy worm twist and loop back and forth.

"He looks almost alive, doesn't he?" she remarked, making Fuzzy slip from one palm to the other. "And he can do tricks, too!"

Shadow nodded absent-mindedly, thinking. Maria always talked mostly about her rare visits outside of Eggman's base, and evidently she had been longing for a pet too . . . the days must be long, cooped up in these metal walls. He hesitated.

"Maria, aren't you . . . lonely here?"

"No, not really," said Maria staunchly, slipping Fuzzy into her pocket. "You visit, I play with Bokkun a lot, and I can usually spend time with Uncle Julian. But now he has a 'do not disturb' sign on his door . . . I hope nothing's wrong. I didn't want to knock, in case he was sleeping."

"But he called me to see him," said Shadow, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh . . . that's strange."

"I'll go see what's up," said Shadow, slipping out the door.

He stepped through a few more hallways, ignoring and being ignored by the assorted cruising security robots. He didn't mind their presence; it reassured him that Maria was safe here. Safer than even he could ever keep her . . . he shook the thought off and tapped on Dr. Eggman's door.

"HATCHOO!" replied a voice from within.

Shadow began to get a bad feeling about this.

"Shadow?" added the voice, perhaps realizing that "hatchoo" was not a traditional greeting.

"Yes, it's me."

"Do come in. The door is unlocked; kindly refrain from your usual method of entry."

Shadow smirked slightly before turning the knob and slipping in. Dr. Eggman's ceiling would remain undamaged today.

The good doctor himself was in bed, wrapped in a flannel blanket. He was wearing a blue surgeon's mask, beyond which the tips of his moustache stuck out oddly. Bokkun was off in the corner, stirring a kettle of soup on a little kerosene burner.

"Ah, Shadow," said the doctor. "_Hatchoo!_ I see you remain as punctual as ever."

"Spare the formalities please," said Shadow flatly. "Are you ill?"

Eggman grunted in affirmation.

"Alas, common maladies show no respect even for the highest personages," he remarked gruffly. "It appears to be an extremely severe flu, of a particularly long—ah—ahhh—long duration! Ahchoo!"

Muttering, he pulled a thermometer from behind the surgeon's mask, shook it, and squinted suspiciously at the red liquid inside it.

"Blasted afflictions. If ever I retire from the path of the mad genius, I believe I shall dedicate myself to finding a permanent cure for these curses. I wouldn't wish this flu on anyone." He considered, then added in a mutter, "Except perhaps that blasted blue rodent. If it weren't beneath the dignity of my superior intellect, I would be tempted to sneeze on him."

"I assume there is something you wish me to do," prodded Shadow, unwilling to listen to the doctor rambling off on some typical mad-genius tangent. "I'm no expert in healthcare."

"Nothing of the kind, nothing of the kind," assured the doctor, blowing his nose and attempting to regain his usual pompous showmanship. "I wanted to ask you a different sort of favor. As I said, I wouldn't wish this malady on anyone; certainly not on little Maria."

Shadow's stance softened slightly; he began to understand.

"I'll be contagious well through Christmas," continued Eggman. "I don't want Maria getting exposed to the infection, but she can hardly be expected to spend Christmas alone. Therefore I ask that you take her to spend the holiday with one of those disgusting little friends of yours; preferably one who won't—t'cha!—won't give her a worse flu than I have. I should be well by New Year's, if that is not inconvenient."

"No, not inconvenient," said Shadow levelly, feeling a slight jingle of delight twitch through the quills on his back. Christmas with Maria! Still he hesitated.

"I'll be fine," scoffed Eggman, noticing. "I won't have her fussing around here making herself ill; then _I _would have to take care of her."

"Besides, I'll take great care of Dr. Eggman!" interrupted Bokkun from his corner. The little robo had been uncharacteristically silent for all this time, perhaps preoccupied with the soup he was stirring. "I don't ever get sick, and I make great hot food!" So saying, he emptied an entire package of cornstarch into the soup pan, stirred, then began to ladle the viscous mixture into a large mug. Shadow raised an eyebrow first at him, then at Dr. Eggman.

"Never mind," grunted the doctor. "Just take the child and keep her safe for about two weeks, if you're capable of that."

Shadow nodded slightly and let his gaze meet the doctor's for a moment. A certain rare shade of light flitted through the hedgehog's eyes—respect. Respect that Sonic or any of the others would never feel or understand.

"I'll take care of her," he said. "A speedy recovery, Doctor."

"Be off with you," retorted Eggman gruffly. "Hatchoo!"

"Gesundheit," murmured Shadow over his shoulder, and slipped out the door. As he closed it behind him, he heard the smash of ceramic on the floor.

"Whoopsie!" chirped Bokkun. Shadow shook his head morosely.

Just to avoid being a carrier, he washed his face and hands before trotting, still-dripping, down to the room where Maria was waiting. He was painfully aware that there was a hint of spring in his step—Christmas with Maria! Without a flood or a kidnapping!

"Is everything all right? Is Uncle Julian okay?" Maria asked, leaping to her feet as soon as Shadow walked in.

"The doctor is ill with the flu," said Shadow. "He doesn't want you catching it, and he doesn't want you to be alone, so you're coming home with the rest of us for Christmas."

"He's sick?!" Maria's eyes widened. "But I can't just leave him like this! He'll be all by himself for Christmas, and ill too! He needs someone to take care of him!"

"Bokkun has got that under control," replied Shadow evenly. The briefest flash of skepticism crossed Maria's face—evidently she was under no delusions about Bokkun's competence.

"He wants you to be safe, Maria," Shadow urged gently. "He wouldn't ask me to take you if he didn't think he'd be fine on his own."

"But he's going to be all alone . . . " fretted Maria. "It's horrible!"

"He was alone every Christmas before you came," shrugged Shadow. An idea struck him. "And since he obviously won't be pulling any stunts this year, we could probably convince the Faker and the others to do something nice for him on Christmas Eve. How does that sound?"

"Well . . . okay . . . " murmured Maria. "Are you _sure_ he's going to be all right?"

"Positive."

Nodding, Maria began to scamper around the room, gathering up various personal possessions into a small carpetbag. Gradually her eyes began to shine more and more, as thoughts of a Christmas with her friends sprang into her head. Shadow perched on the arm of an armchair, swinging his feet slightly and watching.

"Shadow, do you think you could take the Christmas tree to Uncle Julian's room?" asked Maria hopefully, picking up the scruffy little pine. "It would brighten it up for him a little!"

Nodding, Shadow headed off with the tree more or less under his arm. It was most exceedingly small, albeit highly tasteful. He still had to make a conscious effort to keep from smiling; Christmas with Maria! Without any attacks from Eggman. Without any uneasy truces, and the Doctor and the Faker sniping at each other snarkily all throughout. How perfect could things—

Oh.

Shadow stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, abruptly enough to shake an ornament off the tree. The smash of glass on the floor matched a metaphorical smash just below and between Shadow's ears.

He wasn't going to be home for Christmas.

Very clever, hedgehog.

Swallowing, he kicked aside the shards of the broken ornament and continued on. Maybe there would be a loophole. Maybe he could work it out somehow, get a deal of some sort. Give up a few days off in the next year, perhaps? He'd work it out. There was bound to be a solution, so—so no use telling Maria just yet. Besides, he'd get plenty of other days to spend with her! It would work out.

By the time Shadow returned, he had convinced himself that he'd find a solution. This was no time to be moping! He was bringing Maria home for Christmas, for crying out loud.

Maria, bundled in a jacket, scarf, hat, and mittens, met him at the doorway.

"I'm ready!" she announced breathlessly. "Is it cold outside?"

"Very," said Shadow. "Your hat won't do you much good that way; you'd better pull it down lower."

Maria pulled noncommitally at the edge of the hat with one hand.

"Even lower," said Shadow, shaking his head. "No, still lower."

"I don't think it can go any—" Maria broke off as Shadow gently tugged the hat down over her eyes. "Shadowww!"

"Don't worry, it's very warm that way," assured Shadow.

"Silly," laughed Maria reproachfully, pushing the hat back up again. "How would I make it out the door?"

"Don't you trust me to lead you?" asked Shadow, feigning offense.

"You led Sonic into a raspberry thicket last spring."

" . . . I thought you'd forgotten about that."

"No."

"Well, he was asking for it!"

"That's what you always say," scolded Maria, but giggled resignedly and followed Shadow outside.


	4. Of Christmases Long Long Ago

"Tell me about Christmas back on the ARK," said Maria breathlessly, trotting at Shadow's side through the crisp snow. "Was it as pretty as the Christmases down here?"

"Do you remember any of it yourself?" asked Shadow gently. "Think hard. Even a little bit?"

Maria's forehead creased in concentration for a minute, then she shook her head sadly.

"No, nothing. Sorry."

She tried to keep her tone light, but Shadow saw a flicker of worry rising in the back of her eyes. Her continuing amnesia frightened her, though she tried not to show it. Despite everything, she sometimes had secret doubts—was she _really_ the Maria that Shadow had known? She couldn't remember anything, certainly not the ARK. What if she was really someone else, just a false hope, an unintentional imposter?

The question had never been a problem for Shadow. He knew she was the real Maria; knew it from the way he felt when he was with her. He just didn't know how to convince her of that without going into detail.

"Don't worry about it," he said hastily. "It's not important, I just didn't want to repeat things you already knew."

Maria smiled bravely and nodded.

"Guess that won't be a problem. I want to hear everything!"

"All right. So, I don't think Christmases on the ARK were as nice as the ones down here," said Shadow thoughtfully, slowing his stride a bit. "We never had any snow, of course. It was always the same old metal walls and floors, although sometimes you would put white blankets on the floor, and we would pretend that was snow. And there was an artificial tree, bigger than the one you had back at the Doctor's base. It was pretty big; half the people on the ARK helped with the decorating, and there were barely enough ornaments to go around."

"Were there stockings?" asked Maria eagerly.

"I think so. But no fireplace, so we hung them on the wall. I think—" Shadow hesitated, but went ahead with it. "I think the first time you told me about them, I thought they were for wearing. They didn't fit very well."

He wouldn't have told anyone else that, but for Maria's stifled giggle, he'd admit that much and more.

"Sometimes I still can't believe it was really like that," she murmured. "Were you really a silly little hedgie once?"

"Mayyyybe," ventured Shadow, feeling his muzzle grow warm despite the nippy weather. "I'd only been in the world a few months—"

"Aww, I didn't mean it like that," laughed Maria, linking her arm through his playfully. "And you know just _everything _now, don't you?"

Shadow said nothing, but flicked one ear smugly as if to say "yeah, pretty much." Maria laughed and was about to say something else when a shout suddenly came from nearby.

"Maria!" called Tails, waving. "Hey, you get to visit?"

"For all of Christmas!" Maria called back.

There was a joyful whoop from that general direction, and Cream, Charmy, and Marine came bounding into view over the crest of a hill. The whole Kid Brigade was there, evidently.

"All Christmas?" hollered Marine. "Bonzer! You're not funnin' with us, are ya mate?"

"No, really!" laughed Maria.

"Well, come sledding with us!" called Charmy. "The snow's perfect for it!"

Maria glanced at Shadow questioningly. He nodded.

"Just be careful," he called, as Maria dashed off, still clutching her carpetbag. "I'll meet you at Rouge's place."

Setting out again, he glanced back at the kids, who were on top of a hill and attempting to fit all five of themselves onto one sled, with much hilarity. He shook his head and kept walking. It was weird how things kept turning upside-down. Maria used to be his big sister, now he was her big brother. He used to be the one with amnesia, and just a scrambled memory of Maria—now he was slowly piecing his memories back together, and Maria was the one with the amnesia. She'd used to dream of seeing Earth and meeting lots of other children, but now that she had everything she had ever wanted, she didn't even remember having wanted it. Not that she wasn't still grateful. And, perhaps most ironically, the one Christmas that would've been perfect—

Shadow shook his head hard and pushed that thought out of his mind.

A while later he knocked on Rouge's door.

"What's up?" she asked quietly.

"The doctor's sick, and Maria's staying over for Christmas," said Shadow. "Do you have room for her?"

"Maria's going to be here for Christmas?" Rouge's face brightened. "That's great! Sure, she can stay with me. The guest bedroom's—oh." She stopped and shook her head glumly. "There's still that hole in the wall."

Shadow let his mind pass quickly over the incident causing that particular damage. Long story.

"Maybe she could stay with Amy, then," shrugged Rouge, looking a little disappointed. She and Maria got along famously—she was sort of a big sister to the little hedgehog, the kind of big sister who always had cool grown-up things to tell you about but who still liked to do stuff with you. Shadow was sometimes uneasy about the type of influence Rouge might be on Maria's young mind, but the bat always kept her less commendable adventures to herself. Besides, it couldn't be said Shadow was the best sort of influence either, for all that.

"I told her to meet me here, so I'll have to wait around," said Shadow, swinging away from the door to lean back against the siding.

"Then don't stand there like an idiot," said Rouge wearily. "Get inside."

Shadow shrugged and stepped in, shaking snow off his shoes. There was some lukewarm coffee left in the kitchen coffeemaker, so he helped himself to that. Settling down at the table, he waited pensively as Rouge scraped away at a forensics assignment from G.U.N., snipping tiny samples of fur and stained cloth, dropping them into test tubes and pouring meticulously measured draughts of chemical solvents over them. Omega was snoozing in a corner, evidently waiting in case he was needed for a chemical scan. He looked to be fully asleep, but Shadow caught one of his red eyes flickering to life once. He was watching, waiting.

Well, he was waiting for nothing. Shadow sat grimly silent, listening to the clock ticking, the soothing clink of instruments against test tubes, and the burble of chemicals being poured. The sound of someone's fate being calculated.

"Guilty," said Rouge softly. She held up a tube filled with blurry pink liquid and with a scrap of fabric swirling inside, her eyes cloudy. She hated it when a test indicated guilty. Shadow scowled grimly at the table as Rouge went over to smack Omega's side lightly, jolting him awake.

"Test's done, big guy. Didn't need you after all."

"What are the results?" asked Omega, as if he didn't know.

"Guilty," growled Rouge, going back to the table and fitting the test tube into its rack more roughly than she had to. "Always guilty. Idiots, idiots, messing up their lives with murder, all for what?"

Shadow ran the toe of his shoe up and down the leg of the table, glaring through the tabletop. How much of Rouge's spiel was meant for his benefit, anyway?

Muttering, Rouge gathered up the pieces of the forensics set and got to work writing up the report for G.U.N.. Guilty. Once she was done with that, she pushed the report away and folded her arms on the table, clearly still in a dark mood. Shadow swung his feet in time to the ticking clock, waiting. Maria sure was taking a long time . . . or maybe it just felt like a long time.

Omega shifted slightly; Shadow could sense that he was uncomfortable with the silence. Not that it was unusual, Team Dark was always silent, but there are different brands of silence. This one happened to be the stifling brand. Shadow ignored it, sunk in his own thoughts.

At last there was a sound of snow-crunching footsteps outside, and Maria came skidding in, with the rest of the Kid Brigade in tow.

"Sorry I took so long!" panted Maria, her hat askew and her carpetbag covered with snow. "The hill was wonderful! We went down it so many times, I lost track—" She broke off abruptly. "Oh, sorry, hi Rouge! Hello Omega."

It was like sticking a pin into a balloon: everyone jumps out of their skin at the sudden bang, then relaxes all at once and laughs sheepishly. The mood cleared rapidly; Rouge shook herself out of her funk and got up to hug Maria hello, while Omega stepped forward to gently pat the little hedgehog on the head. She stood firm, but quivered visibly—more than a year, and she _still_ was a little frightened of Omega. He'd never given her any reason to be, but a ton and a half of cold steel with red eyes and gatling-gun hands can do that to people.

"Come on silly, don't be scared of Omega," scolded Rouge gently. "He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"But if you're not a fly, you'd better watch out!" called Charmy from the doorway, rather unhelpfully.

"Charmy!" scolded Cream. "Don't say things like that about Mr. Omega!"

"I bet he'd be less scary if he had his Santa hat," muttered Rouge to no one in particular. Shadow rolled his eyes silently.

"Turns out you can't stay here, Maria," he said, getting up. "Rouge's guest room is out of commission. Would you mind staying with Amy?"

"Oh, that'd be fine," said Maria politely, waving a hand. "But will Amy mind? I'd hate to be a bother . . . "

"We can go over and ask, then," said Shadow.

"All right, let's go! I can't wait to see everyone again!" smiled Maria, and scampered out the door again.

"Let's go by my 'ouse, mates!" hollered Marine. "I wanna show you our tree!"

Shadow sighed wearily and set out after the youngsters. Silver and Blaze's houses weren't too far out of the way to Amy's, so he could tolerate a minor detour.

While they were walking, Maria fell back slightly to walk next to Shadow.

"I don't want to pry," she ventured shyly, "but is something wrong?"

Shadow caught himself just before wincing.

"Why do you ask?"

"It just felt like you or Rouge or Omega was mad," said Maria a touch awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I guess I must have imagined it."

"Nothing for you to worry about," shrugged Shadow, walking a very fine line between plain truth and white lies. Maria managed a smile, but there was still something unsettled in her expression. Dang, she was too sharp.

"What about you?" asked Shadow, changing the subject. "Is it just me, or are you still scared of Omega?"

Maria looked away, blushing.

"Maybe . . . just a little?" She glanced worriedly at Shadow. "Does he know?"

"I think he may have noticed," conceded Shadow, nodding.

"Oh," whispered Maria, tugging at her hair sadly. "I didn't mean to hurt his feelings . . . "

"Ah, he's used to scaring people," shrugged Shadow. "Granted, most people warm up to him with time, though. He's been asking Rouge if he ever said something to scare you."

"No, no, it's just me," said Maria quickly. "I'm sorry, I know he's nice, it's just that he's so big and powerful . . . " She smiled wanly. "He's a little like a tank, isn't he?"

"More than a little," smirked Shadow.

"Well, I'm going to try to make friends with him over Christmas," said Maria determinedly. "I'll just have to show him that I do like him, somehow."

Shadow nodded seriously. He was pretty confident that Maria could make friends with a wounded tiger, if she put her mind to it, so Omega would be no problem.

They soon arrived at Silver and Blaze's houses, and Marine dragged the others over to the area between them.

"Ta-daaa!" she announced, gesturing grandly. "That's our tree! Izzenit ripper?"

"It's very pretty," smiled Cream, letting Cheese peek out of her jacket pocket.

"Kinda scruffy-lookin'," remarked Charmy critically. "What's the big deal, it's just an old tree."

"It's not _just_ a tree, mate!" scoffed Marine. "His name is Firbert! And he's not any old tree, he's a tree with personality!"

"Personality?" Charmy sounded dubious.

"Personali-tree!" laughed Tails.

"That's it!" Marine beamed. "Personalitree! Exackly!"

Shadow leaned wearily against Silver's house as Marine tried to convince the others to have a conversation with "Firbert." Silver poked his head out the door to see what all the noise was about, and glanced curiously at Shadow, who gave him a half-glare. He didn't get along with Silver the greatest; there was something about the younger hedgehog's naive sweet-naturedness that grated on Shadow's nerves even more than Sonic's cocky cheeriness. Not that he actively disliked Silver, just that he couldn't resist poking fun at him when in a good mood and taking it out on him when in a bad mood.

"Maria's over to visit?" remarked Silver, as Blaze came over from her house, wrapping a scarf around her neck.

"For all of Christmas," shrugged Shadow. "She'll be staying at Amy's."

"Oh, that's lovely," smiled Blaze.

"Yeah, maybe it'll sweeten you up for a change," grinned Silver slyly. "Imagine that, Christmas, and Shadow in a good mood!"

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself about," said Shadow tersely. "I'll be away for Christmas."

"What?!" He got a pair of disbelieving looks.

"I don't want to hear about it," he warned darkly. "G.U.N. gave me a mission on Christmas Eve. They need me."

Silver and Blaze exchanged looks.

"I'm sure they do," shrugged Silver, turning away to watch the kids running circles around "Firbert."

Blaze nodded silently and turned to go back to her house. Pausing, she glanced back at Shadow.

"Does Maria know?"

He shook his head. Blaze nodded wordlessly and walked away.

Shadow chewed his tongue crossly. The silent disapproval was almost strong enough to taste. He didn't give two shakes what those two thought, but all the same he knew that telling Maria was going to be painful.

What could he do? he asked himself sullenly. What, could he help it that G.U.N. had given him the assignment? This was his fault now?

Suddenly that test tube of sickly-pink liquid flashed before his vision again.

Guilty . . .


	5. Haul Out the Holly

Shadow told Maria nothing yet. He dropped her off at Amy's house, and Amy was happy to have her.

"Oooh, Miss Amy, you have so much pretty holly!" squeaked Cream, looking around Amy's house.

"That's not holly, that's mistletoe," grinned Amy. "Sonic doesn't stand a chance!"

"I don't know, Amy," said Tails dubiously. "Sonic's going to be on the lookout for mistletoe. He'll only stand still if there's no mistletoe above him, and you know how fast he moves when he's not standing still!"

Amy seemed to wilt slightly.

"You think so?" she asked.

Tails shrugged.

"Well, I guess I'll just hope for the best," sighed Amy resignedly. "I just really wanted a kiss from him this year . . . " She looked at Tails hopefully. "Say, what does Sonic want for Christmas?"

"That's what I'd like to know," said Tails drily. "Whenever I ask him, he always says he wants a new pair of pants, because his old pair is in terrible shape."

"But he doesn't wear pants!" giggled Marine.

"Annnnd when I tell him that, he looks down and says, 'Wow, they're in worse shape than I thought!'" chuckled Tails. The other kids laughed appreciatively, but Amy looked unamused.

"That's not very helpful," she complained. "How am I gonna know what to get him?"

"You'll figure it out," said Shadow drily from the doorway.

"Figure what out?" called Sonic, abruptly popping up behind him. "Hey, Shads! Say, Maria's over?"

"For all of Christmas!" called Marine joyfully.

"Aw, that's awesome!" said Sonic, clapping Shadow on the shoulder. Shadow gave him a warning look.

"How do you like the decorations, Sonic?" asked Amy sweetly.

"Uhm," said Sonic, looking around. He paled visibly. "Ohhh, not bad, I guess. N-nice." He glanced above himself cautiously and edged away from the nearest mistletoe. Amy's face fell.

"So, uh, Shads!" said Sonic hastily. "I actually wanted to ask you a favor. Would you mind coming over to my place?"

"I don't owe you any favors, Faker," said Shadow levelly.

"Well then, I can owe you one," said Sonic doggedly. "It's just a little thing, but I think only you can do it. Just hear me out?"

Shadow shook his head unamusedly, but at last grunted "fine."

"Hey, wait for us!" called Tails. "Guys, come over and I'll show you the surprise I'm planning for Christmas!"

In the end everyone went piling out the door again, leaving only Amy behind, looking forlornly around at her assorted mistletoe sprigs. Shadow was last out the door. Pausing, he swung back a few steps and tapped at one ear conspiratorially.

"Make a wreath out of the stuff and wear it on your head," he advised under his breath. "Then you'll just have to catch him."

Amy's eyes lit up.

"Thanks!" she smiled. Shadow smirked devilishly and disappeared out the door. The Faker was in for quite a Christmas.

At last the crew got to Sonic's house, which was practically smothered in Christmas lights. Most of the kids clattered off to Tails' workshop, but Maria lingered behind for just a moment, reluctant to leave Shadow's company.

"So what's the favor, Faker?" asked Shadow wearily.

Sonic half-smirked, looking uncharacteristically uneasy.

"This," he murmured, disappearing into the next room. He reappeared with a large arrangement of six velvet-red roses, set against sprays of snowdrops and edelweiss.

"Ohhhh," breathed Maria. "It's beautiful!"

"It's for Amy, for Christmas," said Sonic sheepishly, setting the flowers on the table and throwing himself into a chair. "I broke three of her windows last week, and knocked down one of her favorite vases the week before that. I figured I might as well make it up to her a little with a nice gift."

"Hmph." Shadow shook his head. "Well for once Faker, you show some common sense."

"Oh, as if you'd know anything about that," grinned Sonic, reddening. "It was partly Tails's idea anyway."

"But it's still lovely," cooed Maria, fussing over the arrangement. "It's so sweet! Red roses for true love."

"_What?!_" Sonic's chair flipped backwards with him still in it. He scrambled to his feet, eyes goggling. "Whaddayamean, true love?!"

"Red roses mean romantic passion," said Shadow, unable to fully suppress a smirk. "That's pretty much common knowledge, Faker."

"It's news to me!" moaned Sonic, holding his head. "I wasn't trying to send _that_ that kind of message, I thought they were just flowers! Do you think Amy knows that they mean that?"

"Amy's the one who taught me the meaning of every rose color there is!" smiled Maria.

"They all have meanings?!" Poor Sonic was just getting one piece of bad news after another. "So if I paint them some other color somehow, are they still going to mean love?"

"I think black means 'I hate you,'" offered Maria tentatively.

"No, no, that's too far the other way," groaned Sonic, scruffing up his quills. "Aw man, aw man, now what've I gotten myself into?"

"Tell you what," smiled Maria. "I don't quite remember every meaning of every color of rose. I'll be staying at Amy's house, so I'll try to find her little book with flower meanings. Then I'll see if I can't find a color of rose with the right kind of message, and I'll let you know. How does that sound?"

"Oh, that'd be a lifesaver," sighed Sonic. "Just anything that's not too lovey-dovey, you know? Like, it'd be good if there was a color that said 'I'm-sorry-I-broke-your-windows-and-ran-too-fast-and-broke-your-vase, so-I'm-giving-you-these-flowers-just-to-say-sorry, not-any-other-reason, just-sorry.' Do you think there's a color for that?"

"Uh . . . I'll check," said Maria gamely.

Shadow, meanwhile, had been watching the entire drama with just a little too much enjoyment.

"So, Faker," he asked, leaning against the doorframe. "What exactly was the favor supposed to be?"

"Oh, right." Sonic pulled himself together. "Well, I was wondering if you couldn't babysit the flowers for me for a while."

Shadow opened his mouth to say otherwise, but Sonic cut him off.

"Hold on, Shads. Look. Normally I'd look after them myself, but Amy comes over to visit a lot. You know how Murphy's Law works! No matter where I hide 'em, that's where she's bound to happen to look! And if I ask anyone else, she's bound to visit and find them there. The only place she'd be sure to never visit is your place! You still have that room in G.U.N. HQ, right?"

Shadow opened his mouth again, then froze. Oh dear.

"All . . . right," he said slowly, his mind blazing at warp speed. How to explain this without—

He was saved by Tails suddenly shouting from the next room, "Hey Maria, come join us! We need you!" Maria waved, then scampered off.

"Phew," sighed Sonic meanwhile. "Thanks Shads, I totally owe you a bunch—"

"Faker." Shadow grabbed Sonic's wrist before the flighty hedgehog could disappear off somewhere. He lowered his voice. "I can't look after the roses. Not all the way till Christmas. I'll be away Christmas Eve, probably leaving even sooner."

"Wh-what?! Away? Why?"

"I have work."

"Work?! On Christmas?"

"I'm non-religious."

"Say _what?_"

"Don't give me the sermon, I've heard it before," gritted Shadow. "I don't practice, do I? I don't talk about it, don't act on it, don't lose sleep over it. Why would I mark it differently on my profile, then?"

Sonic tilted his head, thinking.

"Well, let's hear the sermon then," growled Shadow. "I'm eager to hear your version."

"No, I kind of understand."

Shadow raised his eyebrows slightly. Here was a new one.

"It's a guy thing," shrugged Sonic. "I'd feel kinda awkward talking about that kind of stuff too." He scratched his ear, clearly awkward already. "Although I wouldn't go so far as to say non-religious. If they asked, I'd tell 'em. It's kinda . . . denying it, otherwise."

"Fine then," said Shadow, shutting his eyes. "So maybe I deny it."

Sonic winced, but said nothing for a while.

"Look, like I said, it's not something I'm good at talking about." He paused again. "When are you going to tell Maria?"

"Who says I didn't tell her already?"

"She's in too good a mood," said Sonic flatly.

Shadow growled in the back of his throat. Oh, that gave him a lot to look forward to. Shoot; for a minute there, he'd thought he and the Faker could actually agree on something, but now it became clear that Sonic was just the same as all the others. Well, fine. Shadow was used to standing on his own.

"So . . . " sighed Sonic, rubbing his head. "Maybe I can ask Knux to look after the roses . . . "

"He's out too," said Shadow tersely. "Looking for—"

"Oh, right, right." Sonic nodded distractedly. "Oh man . . . "

"Ask Rouge," shrugged Shadow. "She has an attic Amy doesn't know about."

"That might work," said Sonic. "Thanks."

Shadow grunted and got up to leave. Promptly the Kid Brigade plus Maria came avalanching back into the kitchen, chattering jubilantly.

"Tails has the best idea!" cried Cream, her eyes shining. "We're going to put on a Christmas play with some of the other kids from Central City!"

"It's even going to be a double feature!" whooped Marine. "Christmas Eve, double-length special! And guess who gets the starring part?"

"What's the starring part?" asked Sonic.

"In the second half, the nativity play," grinned Tails. "We phoned the organizing committee in Central City to ask about what parts we could sign up for, and they said nobody'd signed up to play as Mary yet."

"Don't tell me you volunteered?" said Shadow, glancing at Maria. She nodded shyly, her eyes shining.

"I don't know anything about acting, but it sounds like fun," she ventured. "And I won't be scared, not as long as you're in the audience."

Sonic's gaze shifted to Shadow and locked. _Tell her_, he mouthed silently. Shadow set his teeth and turned away.

. . .

The next day, he stopped in at Amy's house to check in on Maria. He was awkward about visiting, since he didn't usually do any of it, but he wanted to spend as much time with Maria as he could, while he could. And maybe he could tell her about Christmas Eve, too . . .

Amy's door was unlocked, and a sign was hung on it saying "Come Right In." As soon as he stepped inside, he was greeted by a series of crashes from the kitchen. Charmy came tearing out for dear life, holding a stuffed frog above his head, while Marine pursued hotly, waving her fists.

"You drongo! Belay there! Gimme back that frog!" she hollered, chasing Charmy in circles. "Yargh!"

So saying, she tackled Charmy to the floor and began to wrestle him right viciously, trying to wrench the frog from his grip, while Cream jumped up and down and squeaked to be careful and Tails laughed resignedly. Maria was laughing too, but she noticed Shadow standing resignedly in the doorway and trotted over to say hi.

"Is everyone here?" asked Shadow, nodding at the continuing commotion.

"Just us, Rouge, and Knuckles," smiled Maria. "Amy says she doesn't mind having us over to help."

"Amy's not feeling well, then," said Shadow drily.

"You said it!" sighed Amy, appearing in the kitchen doorway. "Gosh! People popping in and out all day, the kids running around—Christmas is going to kill me this year."

Shadow shook his head. One of these years, somebody else really should volunteer to host the main festivities; as it was, everyone always invaded Amy's house for the Christmas get-together. She was sweet about it, but one of these years she was going to have a breakdown. She was wearing the suggested mistletoe wreath, though. The minute Sonic set foot through her door . . .

Otherwise, the pandemonium reigning in the house was kind of pleasant, in a headachey sort of way. Shadow perched on the arm of an out-of-the-way armchair and watched for a while.

"Where are the stockings, guys?" called Tails, digging around in a large cardboard box. "I thought they were here."

"Does anyone know where I could find a feather boa that nobody needs anymore?"

"Why is there glitter on the ceiling?!"

And Knuckles was indeed there, lurking about and mostly getting in the way. From across the room, Shadow caught his eye and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"I thought you'd left already," he remarked.

"Yeah, and I came back. I managed to finish stuff up early," shrugged Knuckles. "I'll be here for Christmas."

There was an emphasis on the "I'll." So Rouge or somebody else had already told him about Shadow's assignment. Heck, by now practically everyone must know, except the kids. Including Maria. Somehow she had to be told . . . Shadow would have to leave soon, he had to be quick about it. He was due to head out early tomorrow morning, the day before Christmas Eve.

Shadow bided his time, watching the kids scurrying back and forth, wondering how to break the news to Maria. Good grief; Amy, Rouge, and Sonic were all blabbermouths; why couldn't one of _them_ just accidentally tell Maria about it, so he wouldn't have to? The one time it would've been nice for them to _not_ keep secrets . . .

"Oh, Ms. Rouge, you have a new stocking!" said Cream surprisedly.

"That's right; got a larger one this year," said Rouge, pinning the stocking to the mantlepiece.

"Are you expecting something big this year?" asked Tails, eyeing the sizeable sock.

"No, just trying to make a point," grinned Rouge. "Last year all I got was a measly piece of coal, but this year I'm not standing for that. I'm aiming for a whole _bunch_ of coal!"

"Oh, you didn't get coal last year, Ms. Rouge," said Cream earnestly. "Remember?"

"I know, I'm kidding," said Rouge, tugging the little rabbit's ear gently. "You have good memory, kiddos."

"So what _do_ you want for Christmas?" asked Tails, fetching his own stocking.

"Ah, long story," shrugged Rouge. "Have you ever heard of Lucia's Beryl?"

"Sounds fancy. What is it?" asked Marine.

"Legendary," said Rouge ruefully. "Practically legendary. It's a deep red oval-cut beryl, about this big—" she traced an oval on her palm— "and it's very hard to find. It's somewhere in the wilds of DownUnda, but it seems to keep _moving_. Legend has it the spirits of the outback keep it hidden from treasure hunters by burying it in a different place every day."

"Do you believe the legends?" asked Maria, looking up wide-eyed from the feather boa she was fiddling with.

"I kind of have no choice," said Rouge frankly. "I spent a whole month of my life looking for that sucker, and no luck. So I was hoping, since Santa isn't a treasure hunter, maybe he could get the beryl."

"I don't know, you'd have to be pretty good to merit that kind of present," remarked Knuckles, grinning. Rouge snorted impatiently.

"So then, kiddos, what are you hoping for?" she asked.

"I wanna drum!" sang Charmy. "A real one, no plastic stuff that sounds like a yogurt lid."

"I asked Santa for a new dress," said Cream shyly. "A pretty one, like in fairy tales. Do you think I was good enough this year to get one?"

Everyone laughed at that; when Cream wasn't good, it was a cold day in Marble Zone.

"Charmy hasn't been good, though," remarked Marine.

Obviously this was the prime method of starting debates and cheerful calling-out over who had done what and when; misdemeanors from as far back as last January started getting dragged out into the daylight again.

Shadow sat quietly, watching. It was somehow strange to see Maria acting . . . normal. Just acting her age, enjoying herself with other kids, not having to worry about anything. It was nice, and he wasn't too keen on throwing a wrench into it. Wasn't there some way to get out of it?

Rouge passed nearby and stopped to give him a significant look.

"Are you going to tell her, or are you not?" she asked tightly under her breath.

Shadow weighed his options for a minute, then got to his feet.

"Not," he said grimly, and headed purposefully out the door.


	6. Until Then We'll Have to Muddle Through

Shadow strode grimly down the halls at G.U.N. HQ. So help him, this had gone far enough. There'd been enough fuss over whether he was staying or going; he was going to put a stop to it.

Not that he liked the method. He just barely tolerated Commander Towers, and had never felt the slightest modicum of respect for the man. Although they rarely interacted, when they did, Shadow always took his orders with a grim coolness that spoke more of rebellion than obedience. The hedgehog took all orders arrogantly, but Commander Tower's direct orders he took as if obeying just to spite him.

So asking him for a favor was going to smart. To a certain degree, it took some steeling of nerves, and he wasn't quite sure that he wasn't going to make a fool out of himself. It was a risk that had to be taken.

When he arrived at the commander's office, he found that the commander was out. A chirpy receptionist informed Shadow that he'd be back within an hour at most, which Shadow took as a mixed blessing. On one hand, that meant a longer spell of dreading the meeting, but on the other hand it gave him more time to plan what he was going to say. Throwing himself into a chair in a secluded corner of the reception room, he pulled out a candy cane he had swiped from Amy's tree and began to suck at it moodily.

So, how to put this entire conversation, and put it delicately . . . because there were certain things he wasn't about to admit. Not to anyone. Most definitely not to Commander Towers. But all the same, he'd manage; he just had to explain that he did actually celebrate Christmas, and leave it at that—no problem. That much he could admit, and the rest of the meaning would follow obviously afterwards. Awkward, awkward but doable. He was the freakin' Ultimate, after all.

As he sat rehearsing possible scenarios in his head, splitting off at various points till he got ten possible endings from Pure Dark to Pure Hero, the door to the reception room opened. Shadow looked up, then slouched back again when he saw it was just Frank. Evidently Frank didn't notice Shadow sitting way back in the corner by the filing cabinet, because normally he'd have said hi. As it was, he dropped off a stack of paperwork and began to flirt with the receptionist, who evidently didn't at all mind the attention. Shadow watched disgustedly, still swinging the candy cane from one corner of his mouth to the other.

At last, losing patience with the mush and tender epithets, he crunched the end of the candy cane firmly between his teeth, breaking off a piece and chewing it deliberately. Frank started at the crackling of sugar and got up from his seat on the corner of the receptionist's desk.

"Well, hey there, Shadow," he called, not in the least embarrassed. "What're you hiding back there for? You never struck me as the Peeping Tom type."

Shadow tilted his head silently in greeting, but made no other reply. He also glared slightly, to indicate he was not amused. Frank was unruffled.

"You here to see the commander?"

"Yes."

"He may not be back for a while yet. Is it something I can help you out with?"

Shadow shook his head, his expression indicating that he wasn't interested in continuing this conversation. Frank was only a second-in-command, and something as big as an official mission excuse had to come straight from the commander.

"Ahhh, I see," said Frank knowingly. "It's about that Christmas mission in Holoska you were assigned to, isn't it?"

"Actually, it is. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, I just kind of expected it," shrugged Frank. Something about his tone made Shadow get up, his ears swiveling forwards suspiciously. He was on the defensive.

"It's pretty standard," continued Frank, chuckling. "We get a lot of sudden converts during this season. Didn't really expect you to be the type for that, either! You're full of surprises, aren't you?"

"Sudden converts?" rasped Shadow, a warning light flickering on in his eyes.

"Yeah. It's crazy how fast people pick up religion when they want a day off." Frank waved a hand. "Not that I'm saying anything about you, of course. I'm sure you have a good reason."

Shadow sat back down, his teeth clamped tightly over the remnants of the candy cane. He measured and countermeasured mentally. He was going to get the same from the commander. Maybe not in so many words, but all the same, Commander Towers would give him that same knowing look, and would silently know that Shadow was just fishing for a day off.

Was he? Shadow crunched down on the candy cane angrily. So maybe that kind of was the reason, kind of. He wouldn't have had a problem with it otherwise; he just wanted to spend time with Maria. Frankly, that wasn't much of an excuse to back out of a military assignment. Even if it had been, he certainly wasn't about to stand up there and tell Commander Towers that any one living creature stood that high in his regards. Not a chance.

The last fragments of sugary peppermint crumbled between Shadow's teeth. There were no other alternatives he could think of. No way of asking for Christmas off without exposing some weakness, admitting something he wasn't willing to admit. He wasn't blinded, no; he weighed both sides of the question reasonably. He contemplated facing Maria, and he contemplated facing Commander Towers, and in the end it came down to a question of affection versus pride.

His pride won. He stood up abruptly, to the puzzlement of the receptionist, who was wondering about this hedgehog who sat in the corner and crunched so noisily at his candy cane.

"Aren't you waiting for the Commander?" she called.

The only answer she got was the door swinging closed behind Shadow.

. . .

So there was nothing for it. He couldn't just disappear though, he would have to tell Maria he was leaving. Once again, he calculated everything he could possibly say and everything that could possibly happen in response. Heck, how bad could it be?

Unfortunately, when he got to Amy's house, it was dinnertime. By then almost everyone was hanging around her place, and it was unlikely that most of them would leave until Christmas was over. It happened that way every year. Sonic and Knuckles had pulled out Amy's plastic folding table and set it up right next to the usual one in the kitchen, creating just enough room for everyone to cram in around it and share dinner. It wasn't much, since everyone was too busy to cook properly, but they made it last with conversation and assorted good-natured arguments.

Shadow, seeing how things stood, was about to turn right around and head out the door again, planning to tell Maria after dinner. No dice; Amy saw him and swooped at him before he could escape.

"Come join us, Shadow! There's plenty to go around."

Shadow shook his head, pulling away.

"Come on silly, don't be a Scrooge," scolded Amy, and herded him off to the table. Maria had saved a seat for him, right next to her own, and somebody somewhere somehow got him a plate of fishsticks and mac 'n' cheese. At least he assumed it was for him, because he didn't know who to hand it off to. He ate quietly, trying to ignore the general uproar the others were creating. Maria was all full of life, though, maintaining what seemed like two or three conversations at once. Soon she started telling Shadow about the Christmas play, which seemed to be a source of huge excitement for the younger set.

"There's so many lines to memorize!" she said earnestly, gesturing with her fork. "I didn't even know it was a speaking part, when I signed up, but Tails is really good at memorizing things so he's helping the rest of us. And we get to help build the set too! They didn't get enough set-building volunteers from the Central City crew."

Shadow nodded, his mind somewhat preoccupied.

"What's wrong, Shadow?" asked Maria worriedly, tilting her head to look into his face. "Are you okay?"

Shadow was just about to say it was nothing, when Rouge suddenly called from across the table, "It's about Christmas."

If looks could kill . . . Maria, not noticing, looked from Rouge to Shadow blankly.

"What about Christmas?"

"Nothing," gritted Shadow. "Look, I'll . . . " He realized the others were noticing one by one, and casting him meaningful glances. Yeah, he kind of wasn't going to get away with this just about now. But he sure didn't need Rouge's malice exacerbating the situation, so he got up and nodded for Maria to follow him into the living room. He could feel tension crackling to life among the others as he quietly led Maria out, and some of the kids started to plaintively ask what was going on.

Once they were in the living room and the door was closed, Shadow nodded for Maria to sit down. There was no light except the glow of the Christmas tree, for which he was grateful. The semi-darkness would help.

"Maria, I'm not going to be home for Christmas." There, it was quite easy, when you didn't make a big fuss over it. Now that that was over with, he could worry about the rest of the procedure.

"Not home? Why?" asked Maria, her eyes widening.

"I got an assignment from G.U.N., starting tomorrow morning. It's the military, you can't just ask to drop a mission." He was just a little surprised at how flat and calm he was able to keep his voice; maybe he was just beyond caring by now.

"They give you missions on Christmas?" Maria was clearly surprised, but processing. "But Rouge and Omega . . . "

"Get the holiday off, I know," said Shadow, biting his tongue. "But I don't. And they just happened to have a mission for me."

Maria was quiet for a moment. She really was too sharp; probably she was figuring out the reason for the difference already, nevermind how Shadow tried to skirt the topic.

"I didn't know," she said softly.

"It's not what you think," sighed Shadow, sitting down next to her. "I never actually told them I'm _not_ Christian, I just told them I don't really . . . practice."

Maria nodded slightly, trying to hide the disappointment in her eyes. Shadow winced. How in _heck_ did it work? The others could scold him and guilt him and shun him, and it never made a hint of a dent in him, yet one sad glance from those blue eyes was enough to make him feel somewhere between a sea sponge and another sea sponge. Criminy, this was going downhill now.

"It's okay. I understand," said Maria at last. "I don't want to tell you what to do."

"You'll be fine here, right?" said Shadow, looking away. "You've got all the others to spend Christmas with. I'll be back soon after Christmas too."

"Mmhm." Maria grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly. "Promise you'll be careful up in Holoska?"

"I will," said Shadow. He stood up, gently pulling free. "I'll see you soon, all right?"

"Soon." Maria smiled bravely and got up as well. "Do you want to come finish dinner?"

"No, I'm fine. I'd better start packing."

"Oh. Well . . . goodbye then."

"Bye," said Shadow, and slipped out Amy's back door.

. . .

He headed to his room back at HQ, and did indeed start packing. He had to bring along different kinds of equipment to test the electrical disturbances, and some warming packs for the cold, and a bit of food, in case there wasn't any over there. He supposed he should feel relieved that the hard part was over with, or else guilty about disappointing Maria, but he didn't feel either. He didn't feel much of anything, except a weird numbness hollowing out his insides. Nothing would convince it to back down, either.

At last he sighed and climbed into bed. Sleep was the only thing to kill this kind of numb.


	7. The Weather Outside is Frightful

The next morning, Shadow got up extra-early and left his backpack on his bed. Powering up his jet-skates, he headed down to Amy's house. Stupid of him, maybe, but he kind of felt he should say goodbye properly . . .

The "Come Right In" sign was still up, but the house was quiet. Knuckles was snoozing on the couch, and Sonic was peacefully asleep on the windowsill. He slept anywhere. Amy seemed to be the only one up, quietly washing dishes in the kitchen. Shadow stepped in heavily so as not to startle her.

"Hi," she said coolly, glancing over her shoulder and going back to work.

Shadow shifted from foot to foot, calculating possible lines.

"Is Maria up yet?"

"Maybe. She hasn't been downstairs yet, but she's an early riser," said Amy, not looking up.

Shadow was still calculating his next line when Amy spoke up again.

"Don't you worry about her," she said calmly, soaping up a plate. "She didn't cry last night. _Much_."

It was a wonder the amount of bitterness in her voice didn't break that plate. Shadow closed his eyes.

"But then again, I'm wasting my breath," continued Amy, her voice biting. "You wouldn't care anyway, _would_ you?" She threw down the sponge in a fit of wrath and turned to glare at Shadow. He was now regarding her quietly, with a light in his eyes that would normally have made Amy cower in an instant. Not now, though.

"Well, what are you standing here for?" she scowled, her small fists clenching at her sides. "Come to make it worse for her? Get out of here! If you don't care, at least don't come around here to prove it!"

Shadow surveyed this small and wrathful pink creature. Heaven knew what kind of thoughts he may have entertained, but he didn't act on any of them. Shrugging, he turned around and headed back out the door. Sonic, just waking up and massaging one eye drowsily, glanced up in surprise. Then, jumping to his feet, he whisked upstairs in a flash of blue.

Barely had Shadow walked forty paces away from Amy's house before there was a distant cry of "Wait!" For a moment he considered taking off, but in the end he stopped and turned around. Maria came dashing up, still struggling into her coat.

"Wait Shadow," she panted, sliding to a halt and fumbling in her pockets. "Are you leaving?"

Shadow nodded silently.

"Do they have aurora up in Holoska?" asked Maria. "Aurora borealis?"

"I think so."

"Could you record one, please?" Maria held out a small tape recorder. "I read once that the aurora can sing and make sounds, and I always wanted to hear one . . . could you?"

"If I hear one, I'll record it," said Shadow quietly, taking the recorder. There was a silence; he couldn't bring himself to look into Maria's eyes.

"I'd call," he said tersely. "But there's no cell phone service in Holoska. Not even G.U.N. cell phones."

"I understand."

More silence.

"Shadow," she whispered suddenly, and threw her arms around him. He felt himself going stiff, and pulled away slightly. She must have sensed it, because she let go, resigned.

"Come back soon," she murmured, and turned quietly to head back to Amy's house. Shadow watched her for a moment; then he shook his head and struck out for HQ.

. . .

Picking up his backpack from his room, Shadow strode out the door. The minute he stepped out into the snow, he ran into his teammates. What, had they been lurking in wait for him or something? He gave them a cold glance.

"So," said Rouge.

"So," retorted Shadow, inclining his head in sarcastic agreement.

"You're really going through with it, aren't you?" said Rouge.

"Looks like it, doesn't it?" Shadow rocked back on his heels. "Was there ever any doubt?"

"I can't believe you," said Rouge bitterly. "You'd really do that to Maria? And everyone else? You don't even care that you're missing Christmas?"

"It doesn't bother me," Shadow shrugged, turning away. "I don't really care about Christmas per se. I don't have the patience for any of you, or for your sickly-sweet traditions; I never understood them anyway."

"Oh, I guess that works, then," said Rouge thoughtfully. "So you'll be glad to get away from it all, huh?"

"Yes, actually. I assume you enjoy it, but for me it's nothing special. Fact is, I feel more alone in the middle of your giddy gatherings than I do when I'm actually alone."

"Oh," said Rouge. "Well then, I guess you'll do fine."

"Yes. Don't worry about me." Shadow tightened the straps on his backpack and prepared to head out.

"But we'll think about you, now and then," ventured Rouge.

"That's nice of you."

"Maybe you could think of us?" Rouge continued, her eyes fixed on the toe of her boot as it scuffed from side to side before her. "Just once, you know? When you're gnawing on a bit of year-old pot-roast in some ratty diner, all alone . . ."

Shadow looked at her for a minute, then rolled his eyes eloquently and started walking.

"Or maybe when you're holed up in some freezing cold alley," continued Rouge, raising her voice slightly so he could still hear her. "And there's a guy a few trash cans down who looks like he might wanna mug you, but you're too tired to do anythin' about him anyway and you don't have anything for him to take."

Shadow kept walking, unmoved.

"But hey, at least you'll be happy!" Rouge persisted. "You're lucky. If things get rough, if the frostbite starts getting you down, you can just think of us, all snug and together and having Christmas dinner, and then thank your lucky _stars_ that you aren't stuck in the middle of that!"

"Desist," interrupted Omega sharply. "You are hurting him."

"You gosh darned bet I'm hurting him," snapped Rouge, her facade of cool innocence entirely discarded by now. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted after Shadow's retreating form.

"Don't worry, we'll even get rid of all the decorations and food before you come back so you won't even have to _think_ about it!"

She snatched up a handful of snow and hurled it after him, but it fell short without any attempt on his part. He kept right on walking without once turning back; only, one hand swung up to his forehead, two fingers extended, and arced outwards in a sarcastic salute. Rouge muttered a string of highly unflattering terms.

* * *

By jet-skate it was about two hours to Shadow's assigned post. He had started out in the blinding white glare of eight o'clock in the morning, yet two hours later he arrived to find Holoska dark. Holoska was always dark, this time of year. The tilt of the planet dictated it would be so.

It wasn't quite the middle of nowhere, not really. There was a little hamlet, just barely clinging to its own existence, pretty much the farthest north that any town would ever be built. It was quite the ritz, for Holoska; it even had electricity, and a road leading to it. No gas station, though. There was a little tavern, a little convenience store whose wares were fifty percent alcohol, a little motel. Maybe ten or eleven houses, choked in snow, and a research station, standing out like a horse in a bin full of kittens. It sprawled the entire length of the town, looming in concrete-walled pomp, bristling with antennas and sensors. Presumably, that was where most of the complaints of electrical disturbances were coming from.

Shadow booked into a room at the motel and dropped off his backpack. Not surprisingly, he was the only guest; it baffled him why they'd even build a motel in this frozen wasteland. Maybe the researchers at that station had family or extra members come to visit, sometimes.

He went down to the research station first, showed them his credentials, asked them for a description of the disturbances. Then he went from house to house, asking the residents for their take on the matter as well.

Evidently, the story went like this: A few weeks ago, there had been an earthquake in the area. Nothing serious, but it had shifted the ground around a bit, creating some new cliffs and crags in the normally flat landscape. Wouldn't have been a problem, but ever since then, there'd been constant issues with anything electric or magnetic. The instruments at the research station utterly refused to work. People's appliances turned on and off randomly. Sometimes the lights even turned on and off randomly. Most bizarre of all, the town had started picking up way more radio stations than it used to, and now even picked up TV channels for the first time in its history. Nobody could explain just what was going on, not even the scientists at the research station.

After making the rounds, Shadow fetched some of the instruments he'd brought and began testing various areas. It was a tedious, mind-numbing job; what with the bitter cold, it was pretty numbing on the extremities, too.

Hours and hours later, he deduced that the disturbances seemed to be coming from a point west of the town. Striking out in that direction, he came to the top of a large stone cliff. The howling wind swept it clean of snow, and the rocks were sharp-edged and smooth; this must be one of the new cliffs that formed after the earthquake. Getting down on one knee, he ran his fingers over the cold surface of the clifftop. It felt strange, somehow.

He pulled out his instruments to try running another electrical test, only to find that they were completely non-functional. Wow. G.U.N. had designed them to be entirely resistant to electrical interference, it would take a huge disturbance even to make them falter. That was suspicious . . .

Perhaps the scientists back at the research station would know what kind of rock this was. It would pay to bring them a sample. Shadow flexed his fingers, shaking the cold stiffness out of them, before muttering "Chaos Spear!"

Nothing. He looked at his hand, surprised, and tried again. Still nothing. Oh, now this was just fine.

Getting up, he skated away from the cliff, until he was almost back in the hamlet.

"Chaos Spear!"

A bolt of green energy flew from his hand, sending up an explosion of snow and leaving a steaming crater in the smooth white surface. Now Shadow was really getting suspicious.

He asked at the laboratory, but the scientists knew nothing about what type of rocks those might be. They focused more on weather patterns and such, since that was their field of study. Still, this was something G.U.N. should know about. Pulling out his cell phone, Shadow skated southwards until he got service, which was almost an hour.

"Agent Shadow, reporting," he said, as soon as someone picked up. "I may be getting a lead on the electrical disturbances. There's a cliff about four miles west of the town that formed after a recent earthquake, and the instruments you gave me go completely dead when I'm near it. It seems to have a strange effect on my Chaos powers, too. Either something in the region of that cliff is creating the disturbances, or the rocks themselves are doing so."

"Duly noted, Agent Shadow," said the dispatcher. "Interesting development. See if you can't scout around that cliff, check for some other possible cause. Check especially that there isn't something under or behind the cliff itself; this sounds a lot like something Eggman might try. Maybe a side effect of one of his schemes?"

"Possible, but not likely. He's ill right now. Still, I'll check."

"Roger. Good luck, Agent Shadow. Stay warm."

Shadow nodded wearily and hung up. For a minute he looked at the cell phone in silence. He got service here . . . he could call home, technically. Maybe not now—it was only the evening of the first day—but maybe tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, he would call. _Maybe_. He didn't really relish the thought of it. Come to think, even thinking about home was a mistake; he'd been able to forget about it well enough while doing his research, but now he kept trying to guess what the others were doing now. Ah, to heck with them. At least out here it was peaceful, with nobody stepping on your toes or yelling in your ear.

Skating back to the little outpost in Holoska, he glanced up at the sky and halted. Immediately above him, a shimmering curtain of blue light was twisting and flapping majestically through the sky. The aurora borealis. He stood watching, his ears swiveling back and forth, but heard nothing. At last the light faded, diminished, and vanished, without having made so much as a sound. So, they didn't sing after all.

Tossing the various instruments into his backpack at the motel, Shadow declared himself officially on break. He'd continue his assignment, but first he had some dinner to get and some misery to drown.


	8. Thank God It's Them Instead of You

It was oddly quiet in the smoky little establishment. Presumably, most reputable people were at home with their families. Those who weren't sat slouched at the bar and at various tables, surveying their drinks morosely as they contemplated the woes of being lonely on such a night. Very occasionally a half-hearted murmur of conversation rolled through, but otherwise the only sounds were the clanking of glasses and the whining drone of the radio, playing Christmas music mostly for its own benefit in a corner somewhere.

Shadow sat at the bar, draining the dregs of his drink. Licking his lips thoughtfully, he set the mug down and pushed it across the counter, silently asking for a refill. His fifth.

Granted, maybe being alone was getting to him just a little bit; it wasn't like him to let himself slip like this. He usually only resorted to swilling the stuff when he was severely depressed, and even then he almost always stopped after three rounds. Even then Rouge would always nag him about the health risks of the habit. Think about all the calories, she used to argue; you can't afford to put on weight when you're in G.U.N.. Shadow, worn down, had switched to drinking diet. Didn't taste as good, but it served.

The refill arrived. Shadow blew a layer of foam off the top of the mug and eyed the translucent fluid glumly. It always worked chaos on his nerves, which was another one of Rouge's arguments. And think of how it must mess up your insides! Poppycock. He didn't worry much about his insides, they healed quick enough. Being the Ultimate was nice sometimes. Although granted, swigging too much of the stuff always threw off his personality for hours . . . he saw that his hands were shaking, and could feel he was getting light-headed already.

Tossing his hesitation aside resignedly, he took a long gulp of his drink and felt it sting faintly on the way down. He suddenly became aware of someone climbing up onto the barstool next to him and lowered his glass to eye the newcomer. A somewhat scraggly-looking rabbit (or was it a hare?) with hints of gray about his ears was settling down in his seat, shedding his patched overcoat carelessly onto the floor.

"Hey mistah, I'll have the usual!" he called, his voice clanging boisterously through the gloomy atmosphere. Shadow, annoyed at this noisy intruder, snuck him a dirty look. He seemed to notice, but was entirely unfazed. If anything, he seemed to view it as an invitation to converse.

"Evening, mistah," he sang, extending a hand—which Shadow ignored. "Don't think I've seen you here before. You new in town?"

"I'm passing through," said Shadow shortly.

"Not as good a vacation spot as you thought, eh?" grinned the rabbit, and laughed uproariously at his own joke.

"Shut up," groaned Shadow. He was in no mood to force politeness, especially for this fellow who already reminded him altogether too much of Sonic.

"Oh, in a bad mood are we?" The rabbit clicked his tongue, nodding knowingly. "Little lady ditched you, huh?"

"No."

"Ohhhh, you can't lie to ol' McMurrigan. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have lady troubles, of the most seveeeeere variety."

Shadow rolled his eyes silently and took another swig of his drink.

"Don't believe me, eh?" chuckled "Mcmurrigan." "You can't fool me. Lookatchu. You're not like me and these other driveling losers. You're a young fella, tough-built, every inch the ol 'bad boy.' You must have droves of young girls swoonin' over you."

Having seen how easily amused the fellow was, Shadow knew better than to tell him that he was technically sixty-four. He merely glared at him.

"No, a fellow like you's bound to have a girlfriend," chuckled the rabbit. "And probably a whole posse of pals who want to milk off summa that bad-boy cool, eh?"

"Nothing of the kind," grated Shadow. "I work alone. No girlfriend. No friends."

He thought of Maria and winced internally, but he wasn't about to go pouring out his soul to this old eccentric.

"You sure about that, m'boy?" queried McMurrigan, raising an eyebrow exaggeratedly.

"I'm alone." Shadow held his head up high and said it firmly, making it clear he wanted it that way. His unwelcome new friend studied him for a while, his nose twitching thoughtfully.

"Wellllll, well," he said at last, the jibing note in his voice giving way to a hint of—approval? Was he impressed, somehow? Shadow, pretending to ignore him, took another sip of his drink.

"So, you're one of the brainy ones," said McMurrigan at last, sounding vastly pleased. "Good for you, my boy!"

This was a little surprising; surprising enough to make Shadow look at the rabbit without glaring for the first time.

"You saw through it!" exalted McMurrigan, clapping Shadow on the shoulder boisterously. "You saw right past the tip of your nose, eh? Oh, believe me, you made the right choice."

"I fail to understand you," said Shadow coolly.

"You're the first young man I've seen in years who wasn't hung up on girls and pals and all that other guff. Pah! It's ruin, boyo, ruin. It's the first, last, and best way to mess up your life," assured McMurrigan. "Think about it. If you were the usual type, the type who had a girlfriend, you'd probably be stuck over at her place now, havin' to be all sweet and lovey-dovey and worry about mistletoe and all that other disgusting fluff. Even if you had girlfriend troubles, you'd probably have some friend invite you over, and you'd have to deal with _their_ disgusting fluff, with their cute little family traditions and what-have-you."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. He wouldn't have expected a sentiment that bitter from so jovial an old bouncer.

"This is the life, all alone!" continued McMurrigan, thumping his fist on the counter. He took a long swig of his drink, swiped his wrist over his mouth, and continued. "No obligations! Nobody tying you down! I mean, think about it. If you had friends, or a girlfriend, they'd probably be nagging you about being here tossing back drinks, eh? And here you sit, drinkin' all you want with never a drop of guilt!"

Ironic, thought Shadow. He had no such luck.

"And think about all the hassle," continued McMurrigan, his ears quivering with enthusiasm. "Everyone fusses over the 'season of giving,' and findin' loverly gifts for everyone and their dog. Horsefeathers! You spend days an' days draggin' around looking for presents, wastin' your good money, and they'll probably toss 'em out by New Year's. And then when they give _you_ some kitschy junk, you have to be all grateful and act like you love it and write 'em a sappy thank-you card. Pshaw!"

Shadow shrugged. On one hand he felt like he should be liking this guy a little more now, but on the other hand he somehow felt ill at ease.

"And who wants the rest of that junk?" McMurrigan ranted on. "What's there to like? The food? Some stupid cookies or plum-pudding or whatever it is they're having these days. I used to think that stuff was good. Used to have a gal who could bake a right nice fruitcake, too, or so I thought. It wasn't worth it, though. Glad I got away from it. You're smart, avoiding that stuff from the start."

"Mm," grunted Shadow, consciously pushing Amy's fruitcake out of his mind. He emptied his glass down to the halfway mark, but the taste seemed less satisfying, suddenly. It must have gone flat from standing out too long.

"There's sure nothing else in this Christmas tomfoolery," McMurrigan scoffed, not really caring if Shadow was listening or not. "Maybe enough to make the kiddies excited, but us mature adults? Bah! What's there to it? Pretty sparkly stuff? Oooooh, marvelous, there's a tree in the house with shiny things hanging on it. I'm dying of excitement here." Snorting, he swigged down the last of his drank and banged the mug against the counter. "Refill!" he bellowed, then continued.

"I mean, sure, they have songs. They make me sick with all their cute happy singing! And their adorable little kiddies with their adorable little Christmas plays, snifflin' and wipin' their runny noses on their angel sleeves. Blech. And all overall, it's the season where everyone just gets together and spouts off how they're so happy an' joyful an' just chock-full of looooove." The sarcasm in his voice could have wilted a cactus; by now Shadow was getting the _craziest_ feeling of deja vu. Apparently not noticing, McMurrigan slapped him on the back again.

"Yes my boy, it's all love and peace and disgusting joy out there. And look at us, here we sit, alone and unattached, not a friend in the world to nag at us! None of that sickly-sweet stuff, livin' our own lives. Ahh, we're the lucky ones, ain't we?"

"Yeah," said Shadow. He slid off his barstool, plunked down enough rings to pay for his drinks, and headed for the door.

"Heyyy now, where ya goin'? Don'cha like feeling lucky?"

Shadow wasn't going to reply, but right at the door something made him turn around and come back. He pointed at McMurrigan.

"Are you by any chance acquainted with a bat named Rouge?"

"Who, the spy? Nahhh," scoffed McMurrigan. "Ah, sure wish I was, though. She's a peach." He looked off into the distance dreamily for a second, then glanced down at Shadow with a smirk. "Ahh, so _she's_ the one who ditched you, eh?"

"No," said Shadow coolly.

"Heya-ho, no wonder you're here then," chuckled McMurrigan, shaking his head. "That's quite a loss you're trying to obliviate."

"Shut up," said Shadow wearily, turning away and picking up his half-full glass. He was about to swallow down the rest of it when he stopped, considered, then put it back untouched and walked away. Ultimate Life Form or no, there was a limit to how much diet Pepsi a hedgehog could drink.


	9. There's Not Much Time

As soon as Shadow stepped outside, the cold sliced neatly through him, gutted him, and proceeded onwards uncaringly. He shook off a fit of shivers and pawed at his forehead, fighting back the caffeine buzz he'd contracted. Dang that old rabbit . . . he'd really managed to get to him. It was funny; Shadow had been scoffing at all the tenets of the holidays himself all along, but hearing somebody else disparaging the traditions of Christmas . . . kind of hurt somehow. Kind of the way he teased his teammates all the time, but got defensive if anyone else said the exact same things about them.

He stood in the snow for a while, arguing with himself. He couldn't keep denying it now: he did kind of, maybe, just a little, wish he was back at home. It's not like he really missed it that much, just that . . . he missed Maria. A lot. The others too, he admitted grudgingly. He didn't really care about sparkly trees or presents or sappy songs, but it still hurt to be left out of the experience when everyone else was there having it together.

Biting his lip, he hesitantly approached the payphone built into the side of the motel. It was an uncomfortable situation; calling home was basically admitting to the others that he missed them. It wasn't an admission he cared to make, especially since he was going to hear about it. Inevitably. For a minute he scrabbled for a suitable excuse. Perhaps pretend he needed some data from Rouge or Tails to continue his research? No, they'd see through that. It would make much better sense to call G.U.N. for that kind of info.

Sighing, he scrapped the idea entirely. Heck, everyone knew he missed Maria, so that could be his excuse. Just say he wanted to wish Maria a happy Christmas. They couldn't make fun of him for that, right?

Well, here went nothing. He pulled out a ring, dropped it into the slot, and dialed Amy's house.

It rang for quite a while. Shadow suddenly wondered if Amy or anyone else would even pick up. Suppose they were all having a good time and didn't care to answer? Suppose they were out watching the kids rehearse for their Christmas play? Suppose they'd changed their minds and had moved to somebody else's house, or—

"Hello?" came Amy's voice suddenly.

Never mind.

"Amy?" Shadow tried to remember what his excuse was. In the process he paused just a little too long.

"Shadow, is that you?" asked Amy. "I thought you didn't get G.U.N. cell service in Holoska."

"I'm at a payphone."

"Ohh, I see. Is something wrong?" Amy's voice took on a note of concern.

"No, I'm fine. I just—" Shadow braced himself— "I just wanted to speak to Maria, if that's all right. Is she available?"

"Oh." A moment of silence. "Um, I—let me go check, okay?" Her voice seemed to quaver oddly for a second, but Shadow passed it off as a bad connection. It was a wonder the payphone was working at all, what with the electrical disturbances.

"So uh, Rouge is here right now. Do you want to talk to her meanwhile?" asked Amy.

"No!"

Much good it did, though; there was already a sound of a fumbling receiver. Shadow almost hung up then and there, but stayed on the line for Maria's sake.

"So, finally decided to give us a ring, huh?" came Rouge's voice. Shadow's eyebrows twitched upwards slightly. He'd instantly been able to calculate the tone he'd expect Rouge to use, but he'd calculated wrong. The question seemed only half-acerbic, as if she was forcing sarcasm. Was something going wrong back there?

"Probably wish you hadn't, huh?" she continued.

"You bet," muttered Shadow.

"Yeah, not the best news to get, I know," sighed Rouge. "Try not to think about it."

"What news?" Shadow's ears twitched forward tensely, his fingers growing tighter around the cold receiver.

"I don't want you freaking out over there, you've got a mission to—" Rouge broke off. "Wait, Amy didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" asked Shadow grimly.

"Nothing." Way too quickly.

"What is going on over there?" growled Shadow, setting his teeth. "What's wrong?"

"Drop it Shadow, okay? You need to finish the mission, we can't have you going AWOL."

"Rouge! Spit it out!"

"I thought Amy had told you," groaned Rouge, clearly trying to get out of the admission.

"Told. Me. _What?!_"

"Nothing, nothing, just about Maria being sick—"

"_What?!_"

"Don't worry about it," said Rouge despairingly. "I'm so sorry, I guess Amy didn't want you w—"

"What's she sick with? Is it serious? Can't I speak to her?"

"I-I . . . "

Shadow took a deep breath, steadying himself against the wall with one hand. He was not in the habit of losing his cool; now was not a great time to start.

"Rouge. Is it serious?"

Silence.

"Rouge?"

"Look, Shadow—"

"_Please insert extra change to continue your call!_" interrupted a particularly heartless automated lady.

"Rouge, hurry! What's wrong with—"

The call cut off.

Shadow closed his eyes and slowly drew frigid air into his lungs. He reached for another ring to call again, but stopped himself. Quietly the different courses of action laid themselves out in his mind, like a neatly arranged game of dominos. One option was to stay here. He had to complete his mission, and his being back at home wouldn't make any difference in Maria's state of health. It's not like he could cure her just by going back.

On the other hand, the others' evasiveness and assurances not to worry were sure signs that it was serious. Supposing it was . . . _that_ kind of serious? Supposing something were to _happen_? He had to be there. Even if the worst were to happen, it would be a hundred times easier to take if he could be there with Maria, instead of miles away, as if he'd abandoned her. No, never. Even if he couldn't cure her, he had to be there for her.

He fumbled to pull out all his remaining rings and cursed softly; three. Three measly rings. If he just hadn't had so many refills at that blasted tavern—but then again, he might not be here if he hadn't had that many refills . . . there was no use crying over spilled milk. He couldn't waste his rings on calling home again, he had to contact G.U.N.. Getting hold of the commander was always difficult, especially at this hour . . . and he had a very difficult task ahead of him. How to talk his way out of completing the mission? And that was even ignoring the sting of having to ask Commander Towers for anything.

Sighing, Shadow dropped in the first ring, hoping that three would be enough.

Phone conversations drove Shadow crazy; it was impossible to intimidate people into hurrying when they couldn't see you. Through all the call transfers and holds, he wasted two rings; he had just dropped in the the third when Commander Towers finally picked up.

Shadow drew in his breath resignedly. The situation was more or less hopeless now, there was no way he could convince the commander to let him off within the space of fifteen minutes. But he could at least give an excuse so he wouldn't be entirely AWOL—

"Commander," he said quickly. "This is Shadow, reporting from Holoska."

"Ah. Have you got anything to report?"

"Nothing since the last update," said Shadow, setting his teeth. How to word this? "Actually, I wanted to request—"

"Early leave?" asked the commander drily.

" . . . Yes."

Well, he knew the answer to _that_ already—

"All right."

—and that wasn't it.

"Are you still there?" asked the commander, as Shadow regarded the phone receiver with disbelief. He was starting to wonder if he hadn't somehow phoned the wrong Commander Towers.

"Early leave granted?" Shadow managed at last, regaining his presence of mind.

"I received some notice beforehand regarding your profile status," said Commander Towers wearily. "Apparently there was an inaccuracy in religious affiliation. You didn't say anything about it, so there was no change made. However, it was agreed that if you should ask to be excused from the mission, early or entirely, the excuse would be granted."

Rouge. Gosh darn the bat. Of all the sneaky—ohh, he didn't have any right to complain. She'd only taken what he was too proud to do and done it for him; technically he owed her. It wasn't even her job to save him from himself, and yet she bothered.

"You are aware you'll be expected to make up for this during the upcoming year," the commander continued.

"Of course," said Shadow, not really caring—that was irrelevant just now. "When can I leave?"

"Now, if it suits you. Only take a sample of that rock you were suspicious about. We'll test it and see if that might be the cause of the disturbances."

"Yes sir." Shadow winced, but bit his tongue and said it: "Thank you."

"You're lucky. Goodnight."

The commander hung up just as the annoying automated lady began to chirp "_Please insert extra change_—", cutting her off neatly. Even in his current frame of mind, Shadow couldn't help but find that somewhat gratifying.

He swung hastily through his room at the motel just to snatch up his backpack. Not long now; just snatch a sample of rock, jet-skate home (or Chaos Control if he could manage it), and he'd soon know how Maria was doing. She just had to hang on a little longer, just a little longer . . .

He was at the windswept clifftop in an instant. Pebbles clicked under his feet as the wind howled around him, sweeping ghostly swirls of dry snow across the stone. He picked one of the pebbles up and surveyed it, wondering if it was made of the same stuff as the main rockface. Well, no sense risking it; he'd just break off a piece of the main cliff somewhere.

Finding a point at the edge of the cliff where the rock seemed slightly cracked, he struck it with the heel of his hand. It didn't show any hints of breaking. Well, worth a try . . .

"Chaos Spear!" he ordered, drawing back a hand. Nothing happened. He tried several more times, but he simply couldn't summon the familiar bolt of Chaos energy—and it was usually second nature for him. Something was definitely off here.

Muttering, he looked around for a tool of some sort. Nothing he could hope to use as a lever, but he spied a large loose rock sitting nearby, on an outcrop of the cliff. Maybe he could use it as a hammer.

Clambering to his feet, Shadow stepped out onto the outcrop to pick up the stone. Just as he was about to grab it, there was a dangerous groan, seemingly from underneath his feet, like thick rope about to snap. He turned, his ears swiveling, as the groaning moved back and forth, changing place, multiplying, growing deeper, mixing in with a crisp crackling noise, crawling around inside the cliff face. Suddenly there came an ear-splitting _CRACK!_, and the ground dropped out from under Shadow's feet.

"Chaos Control!" he barked, just before something caught him in the head and knocked him cold.


	10. And So This is Christmas?

He awoke an unspecified amount of time later, his head throbbing. Groaning, he tried to claw his way out of the fog clinging to the crannies of his brain. The process sped up a good deal when a zing of pain shot through his leg.

Muttering, he heaved himself gingerly up on his elbows, trying not to move the leg in question. Bit of rock showered off his body as he sat up, some of them nearly the size of his fist, but he currently had bigger problems. Silently he surveyed the situation. It was pretty dramatic.

The rockslide seemed to have completely destroyed the face of the cliff, breaking it into multiple enormous chunks that had crumbled from their places and fallen to the ground below. Shadow had apparently fallen with them; it was very fortunate that none of the rock slabs had landed on top of him. Well, except for that largest one that was now resting on his foot.

Shadow shifted his left leg tentatively, eyeing the gigantic mass of rock resting on his ankle. His foot didn't feel like it was crushed, and he could even wiggle it a little, though it hurt. There must be a hollow space underneath the rock that had saved him from the worst damage, but all the same he sure couldn't pull his foot free. He bent it this way and that, but it simply wouldn't slide loose. Prying his fingers into the space between the rock and his leg, he tried to crumble it, but it was inordinately hard. He certainly couldn't lift such a huge weight, and there was rock underneath him too; no digging himself free.

Shadow had a feeling he already knew what would happen, but he tried anyway.

"Chaos Control!"

Nothing.

"Chaos Spear!"

His palms tingled with energy, but none of it sparked out. He slapped one hand against the edge of the rock futilely, as if he could somehow jolt the Chaos energy loose. Nothing, nothing, nothing! Why didn't any of his Chaos moves work here? He got the sinkingest feeling that it really was because of the rocks themselves.

If he didn't get free, it wasn't for lack of trying. He gave it everything he had; pulled, tugged, twisted, scraped, hammered the heel of his other foot against the rock; the amount of rage he gave that slab of stone would have done Knuckles or Omega proud. For all his efforts, he didn't even make a scratch in it. After almost an hour of trying, he fell back, panting, his face damp with sweat and melted snowflakes, and considered his situation.

Nope. He wasn't going anywhere. He had just gotten permission to go home, against all the odds, and fate had laughed and cast him this lot just to show who was in charge. Christmas alone after all, trapped out in the open, freezing cold and no way of getting shelter. Without his Chaos powers or even the ability to move, he was essentially . . . helpless. It was a new sensation, and not one he liked.

And Maria. Most of all, Maria. What was wrong with her? Would she be all right? Why couldn't he be there for her? What if . . . what if something happened to her while he was trapped here?

Gritting his teeth, Shadow threw one last furious effort into wrenching himself free, one last fit of desperation that left him breathless, exhausted, and still very much trapped. Swearing, he slammed his hands against the ground and reached up to rake his fingers through his quills. Rage swelled up in his chest.

"Dammit," he hissed, kicking out at the slab of rock now serving as his ball and chain. "Why'd they even have to come up with these stupid traditions? Blasted Christmas! Why—why'd _he_ even have to be born?!"

Almost immediately a twist of guilt caught him. There were some things even he wasn't willing to disrespect.

_I didn't mean that_, he thought hastily, but somehow knew that the damage was already done. With a muffled growl he flopped back, folded his arms, and closed his eyes, feeling the icy stone below him seep cold through his fur.

_What are you worried about?_ taunted the small resident voice in his head. _You're non-religious, remember? You don't even believe in that stuff._

He'd never said he didn't believe in it, Shadow thought grimly. He did. Deep down inside, he knew he did. He just didn't . . . he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to tell people he believed, if they asked.

_Because you're too good for it,_ the voice sneered. _You think admitting you believe would make you look weak._

So what if he did? What did it matter if he admitted it or not?

_Because that means you deny it, Shadow the Hedgehog. How are you going to explain _that,_ when the day of reckoning comes? Are you going to tell Him you were too proud to acknowledge Him? _

Growling again, Shadow twisted gingerly onto his stomach, carefully rotating his ankle into an at least slightly comfortable position. So he would be honest with himself; he had denied it. And for that matter, he wouldn't be stuck out here if he hadn't.

_So this is your just punishment, is that it?_ he thought bitterly at the sky. _You just had to drag Maria into it, didn't you? She didn't do anything wrong! So your idea of justice is to let her d_—

He shuddered suddenly, unwilling to even think the word. His attempt at anger collapsed in on itself, and he laid his chin on the backs of his hands.

_God, please, whatever you want with me, but please let Maria be all right . . . not for me, for her, please let her be all right . . ._

The night was long, and thoughts are fast. No need to go prying too deep into what happens in another's soul. Eventually Shadow drifted off, exhausted from struggling.

He had the oddest dreams. He thought he was having the most wonderful conversation with someone, but he couldn't pick up the words; he sensed something nudging him into consciousness, but he didn't want to wake up. There were so many feelings he never had when he was awake . . . not all good ones, but all the same he wanted them. And there was one running through all the others, like the feeling he got whenever Maria hugged him, only even stronger . . . drifting somewhere between sleep and lucidity, he felt a warm hand gently stroking between his ears.

At last his eyes twitched reluctantly open, a sleepy groan catching in his throat. It was still dark, still cold, he was still alone . . . his foot was still trapped. It wasn't the right millenium for that kind of miracle. Really, nothing had changed . . . and yet he was entirely at peace. It would be all right; somehow he just knew it would be.

"Thanks," he sighed, not remembering the question but knowing he'd gotten a good answer. Something about second chances.

His eyes slid to the compact wristwatch G.U.N. had him wear for missions. The sky was the same kind of dark it had always been, but the timepiece read 5:15 PM, December 24th. Christmas Eve. He'd been trapped here since roughly two AM of the same day. He wondered how Maria was doing.

Twitching, Shadow rolled onto his back again, wincing at how reluctant his body was to move. The night was getting even colder . . . it was surprising that hypothermia hadn't set in yet, and it was bound to do so soon. He wasn't worried about dying, since he knew his body would go into torpor under these conditions. He'd drop into a deathlike sleep, with no breathing or heartbeat, but if brought into a warm room somewhere, he'd pop right back to life. The only issue was, few people outside of his closest friends knew that. If somebody else should stumble upon him while he was in torpor, they'd assume him dead, and if, for some reason, they didn't bring him inside before burying him . . .

Really, it would probably be a better idea to stay awake. But he was getting so sleepy . . . it was a wonder that he'd woken up at all. By all rights he should have lapsed into torpor already while he was dreaming, and there was no reason why he should have just woken up from a peaceful sleep like that. Not your average reason, anyway.

But either way, torpor was definitely coming on now, inexorably, dragging his eyelids closed. He could feel his body growing pleasantly warm, the final stage of freezing to death for most. For him it was a relief; he had nothing to fear. Sighing comfortably, he finally gave up the struggle and let his eyes slip shut.


	11. All I Want for Christmas

_Vweeeeeeen._

A long electronic keening sound sliced abruptly through the silence, earning a faint start from the lethargic hedgehog.

_Virrrrrrreeeeen._

Ever so slowly his eyes cracked open. He started again, opening them just a little more. Right above him, a shimmering curtain of blue-green light was again whipping through the sky, creating a steady crackling sound and an occasional soaring cry, like a sweeter, gentler version of microphone feedback. Or Rudolph's nose.

Shadow watched for a moment, his eyelids sliding closed and open lazily, his face illuminated blue from the aurora light in the sky. So beautiful . . . hm, so they did sing after all. He had promised Maria that he would record the sound, but he just couldn't bring himself to move. He wanted so much to close his eyes and sleep, but he kept forcing his eyelids back open, trying to motivate himself to roll over and grab the recorder. So . . . sleepy . . . so . . .

Suddenly, mixed in with the humming of the aurora, a strange three-note whistling sound echoed in the distance. Shadow's frozen ears twitched slightly as he woke up just a little more. That sounded . . . _exactly_ like the special search whistle he and his teammates used on missions . . .

A few minutes later, he heard it again. There was no mistaking it this time, and it was closer than before. His teammates were out looking for him! Bolting upright, fully awake, he put his numb fingers to his lips and struggled to blow the reply whistle. After a few attempts, he succeeded.

Silence. The aurora had abruptly vanished, leaving nothing but the whining of the wind. Snowflakes swirled into Shadow's eyes as he sat motionlessly, leaning back on his hands, staring up at the clifftop and waiting. Still no sound.

Suddenly again, the search whistle. Had they heard him? He whistled the reply more readily now, chafing at his lack of mobility.

There! A distant whoop that was ever so distinctly Rouge's. They'd heard him!

Shadow flopped back and readied himself to keep whistling so the searchers could find him. Well, things would go in a straight line from here on out. It was only a matter of time now before his teammates were roughing him up exuberantly and giving him the teasing of a lifetime, and after that only a little more time before all the others were carrying on and asking stupid embarrassing questions. Frankly, he was looking forward to neither of those fracases.

Aww, who was he kidding? Maybe he kind of was.

* * *

It took several rounds of ammunition before Omega could break Shadow free; the robot was not amused, since most rocks blew to bits after the first round. Then again, the robot wasn't amused in the first place. The electrical disturbances were getting to him too, temporarily blowing out his voice chip and making him generally erratic. Rouge couldn't wait to get out of there, before Omega suffered an outright seizure and started rebooting all his systems. _Again._

Not even asking for any explanations, Shadow grabbed a piece of the shattered rock for the sample in one hand, snatched the Chaos Emerald his teammates had brought in the other, and limped to a fair distance away from the main cliff. With a little effort (and only when Rouge took the rock from him), he was able to generate enough Chaos energy to transport them right to Amy's door. Rouge and a rapidly-recovered Omega trotted inside; Shadow slipped in last, bracing for the storm of questions and fussing that was liable to follow. He just wanted to hurry up and see if Maria was all right.

Barely had he stepped inside before there was a squeal of "Shadow!", and a small forcewave plowed into him, smacking the back of his head against the door. His first thought was that Maria had been spending wayyyy too much time with that hooliganic Kid Brigade. His second thought—

"Maria?!"

"Shadow, I'm so glad you're okay!" Maria murmured into his shoulder, her arms wrapped tightly around him. "They said you'd come, we were so worried when you didn't . . . "

"Maria, you're—you're all right?" Shadow held her back slightly to look into her face; she looked the picture of shining-eyed health. Drawing in his breath sharply, he pulled her close again, forgetting even that the others were watching.

"What do you mean?" asked Maria, squirming around slightly to tilt her head up at Shadow. "Why wouldn't I be all right?"

"They said you were sick . . . "

"Ohhh," said Maria, blushing. "That . . . " She laughed softly. "It was nothing, I just got a little carried away. I was making a gingerbread house with the others, and the gumdrops were so good, I ate a little too many and had to lie down for a while. That's all."

"Oh?"

Shadow quietly raised one eyebrow at Rouge, who pointed at Amy.

"Don't try to pin this on me!" squealed Amy indignantly. Rouge gave her a look, so she gulped and began.

"I—I—Rouge and I figured—we—" Her ears folded back guiltily. "We didn't think—"

"The rockslide wasn't part of the plan," assured Rouge, finally coming to Amy's rescue.

Shadow shut his eyes for a moment and opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly stopped and shook his head, a resigned smile flickering across his muzzle.

"Well played," he conceded softly.

"Were you worried?" asked Maria, evidently oblivious to the intrigues going on among the older Mobians. "It was nothing, really!"

"Where Rouge starts plotting, nothing is nothing," said Shadow drily.

"I'm telling you, it was Amy's idea," scoffed Rouge. "I just fine-tuned it, and took over on the phone because she kept wanting to laugh. Lousy actress, that Pinkie."

"I couldn't help it!" protested Amy, reddening. "With all the kids war-dancing all over the place, how in the world did _you_ pull it off?"

"What can I say, I'm good," smirked Rouge.

Shadow shook his head. That explained Amy's strange voice, and probably the long time before she picked up too. Gosh darn it, they'd really come up with a master plan. He still kind of wished he wasn't mixed up in it, though . . . he could feel his muzzle growing warm already.

"Yeah, I wish I'd had a camera to film that," remarked Sonic from the kitchen doorway, his mouth full of Christmas cookie. "The whole plan depended on you calling home, and nobody knew if you would, so the place nearly came down around our ears when you did." He chuckled good-naturedly. "Just have to be the center of attention, huh Shads? You just couldn't stay quietly at home and not raise a fuss."

"Believe me, Faker," muttered Shadow. "Name me _any_ other place on Mobius I could be right now—"

"Back at the bottom of that cliff?" suggested Rouge brightly.

Shadow groaned resignedly and looked around for Tails.

"Do you think you can identify this rock?" he asked, handing Tails the sample. "Without damaging it; I have to take it to G.U.N. after this."

"Hmm . . . " Tails turned the rock over in his hands thoughtfully. "So you say it causes electrical disturbances?"

"And messes up my Chaos powers, too. And it's very hard."

"Hmm . . . " said Tails again, squinting thoughtfully at the stone. He tapped it, scraped it, rubbed it, and even licked slightly at one corner. He smacked his lips thoughtfully.

"Try it," he smiled. "It tastes like cranberries."

Shadow tilted his head dubiously as Tails held the rock out to him.

"I'll . . . take your word for it."

"I've heard of this rock before!" said Tails, handing it back to Shadow. "I ran into its description once while researching. It's a practically legendary type of stone, called Ordonium. Most descriptions of it are too old to include electricity, but it was known to attract lightning and do other weird stuff. I never thought I'd get to see some in real life!"

"So in other words, it would be useful for modern research, right?" said Shadow.

"And a lot of other things," said Tails, his young voice turning serious. "It might be dangerous if it got into the wrong hands. You've seen what it does to electrical equipment—and to you. What if Eggman got hold of it?"

The others exchanged glances.

"We're going to have to tread carefully in how we explain this to G.U.N.," said Rouge grimly. "I have a feeling they may want to keep the Ordonium deposit secret."

Shadow nodded silently. Something told him this wasn't the last they were going to hear about this particular type of stone. Turning the plain-looking rock over in his hand, he felt the Chaos energy in his body fleeing away from it. Quite a marvel . . . a real-world Kryptonite.

"Ah, well," shrugged Amy, shaking off the serious atmosphere. "Come on you guys, you can worry about the old rock after Christmas, right?"

"Yeah, later," murmured Shadow, tucking the sample away for safekeeping.

"That's that then," said Amy cheerfully. "Now come on Shadow, get yourself warmed up and rest that foot. We have to head out for the kids' Christmas play soon, and there's still the presents to exchange after that!"

"That's fine, I'll just wait in the kitch-" Shadow got no further, as Maria had already grabbed his hand and tugged him out of the hall.


	12. We're Here Tonight, and That's Enough

**A/N: A bit anti-climatic of an ending, but I had to tie up the loose ends. Merry Christmas, all!**

* * *

Shadow cautiously joined the others in Amy's living room. He got some cheerful waves and hello's, but not too much fuss, for which he was extremely grateful. Settling onto the sofa, he nursed feeling back into his fingers and ears and took in the predicted uproar the others were maintaining. Things were pretty chaotic, as could be expected.

"All right, everybody out, we've got to get to that Christmas play!" called Amy. "And make a stop at Eggman's on the way."

"Oh, so you're going through with that?" remarked Shadow, testing his injured foot. It had healed almost entirely already.

"Let's just say Maria is persuasive," grinned Sonic. "Otherwise we wouldn't dream of this kind of craziness."

Shadow rolled his eyes; knowing what saps the Faker and the others were, they probably would have found it in themselves to bring Dr. Eggman at least some hot soup, no matter what. As it was, they had a pot of chicken soup, a thermos of cocoa, and a box of Christmas cookies, plus a neatly wrapped box from Maria.

"I'm going to give 'im this!" announced Marine, holding up a bright red glass ball.

"It's just a Christmas ornament," said Charmy dubiously.

"But it's from Firbert," averred Marine, patting the ornament. "I told Firbert we were plannin' to give ol' Eggman some stuff, and this ornament fell right off the top branch. He wanted Eggman to 'ave it! Izzen he just the nicest tree?"

Charmy rolled his eyes skeptically; he just didn't get Marine's affection for "Firbert."

The others didn't dare set foot on Eggman's turf, so Shadow and Maria, both security-cleared, took all the food and gifts inside to drop off in the hallway. Maria insisted they knock on Dr. Eggman's bedroom door and run, which somewhat went over Shadow's head; after all, the Doctor could just check the security footage and see it was them anyhow. Still, he played along.

They made it to the Christmas play just in time. Apparently there hadn't been quite enough volunteers even with the Kid Brigade and Maria, because Sonic was stuck as the Archangel Gabriel. He was going to be hearing about that for a while.

After the play, which went by with no (major) disasters, everyone stumbled back to Amy's house. It still wasn't over yet; tradition dictated that homemade or personal gifts were to be given on Christmas Eve, to avoid the value being lost in the chaos and paper-shredding on Christmas morning.

Sonic flung a scarf onto his neck and disappeared out the door. Five minutes later he was back, looking highly distressed. He pulled Rouge aside.

"_Rouge,_" Shadow heard him hissing. "What happened to those roses?!"

"I, uh . . . didn't know you were supposed to water them," Rouge whispered back, not sounding too happy. "Uh . . . sorry."

"Rouge!"

Shadow shook his head silently; flowers and baking were two things Rouge would've _liked_ to be good at. Sonic sidled up to Maria surreptitiously.

"Pssst, Maria!" he whispered, looking around to make sure Amy wasn't in earshot. "Aside from color, what does it mean if you give someone _dead_ roses?"

"Um . . . you kind of don't do that," Maria whispered back awkwardly.

"Great," moaned Sonic.

"What's going on?" asked Amy, puzzled.

"Nothing, nothing," muttered Sonic, scruffing his quills. "Just, uh, just some stuff."

He disappeared outside again.

"Um, Omega?" said Maria shyly, approaching the half-dozing robot. "I have a gift for you."

She held out a small brightly-wrapped package, all fancied up with ribbon and everything. Omega took it gingerly, and Maria didn't even flinch as his enormous metal claws brushed around her hands to grip the present. Shadow and Rouge glanced at each other and scooted closer to see how this would go, while a couple of the other Mobians also took special interest.

Omega was, by unanimous vote, the most annoying present-opener in all of Mobius, and possibly in the rest of the universe too. He carefully undid the ribbons, one by one, then very carefully peeled off every strip of tape, then very-very carefully folded back the paper and set to work on the box . . .

"Gosh darn it Omega!" exploded Rouge.

Omega was entirely unfazed. At last, he folded back the flaps on the box and pulled out a long blue feather boa. He surveyed it thoughtfully.

"Don't know if it's quite your style," deadpanned Shadow, propping his elbows on the back of the sofa. Rouge bit down on the knuckle of her thumb.

"There are eyes upon it," observed Omega dubiously, noting the large fabric eyes sewn meticulously onto one end of the boa.

"It's a pet for you!" explained Maria. "I have a little one just like it, see? His name is Fuzzy." She held up her own little fluffy worm. "You can make it wiggle just like it's alive. What you do is you twine it through your fingers—here, give me your hand—"

Amy gave a stifled little sound-of-adorableness as Omega patiently held out one massive, glinting hand, while Maria's own small hands gently arranged the fluffy worm—more like a snake, really—through his fingers, and stretched the double-strength fishing wire from the snake's nose to Omega's other hand.

"There, now pull, like this—that's right!" smiled Maria. Omega gingerly tugged on the fishing wire, causing the fluffy snake to twist swiftly through his fingers. He stopped very quickly and swung back, eyeing the feather boa with great mistrust.

"You were doing it there!" assured Maria. "It's supposed to do that. Try it again!"

Cautiously Omega resumed twirling the snake through his fingers and over his palm, under Maria's direction. He seemed to grow progressively more fascinated by it.

"Do you like it?" asked Maria shyly. "Maybe it's a little boring for you, but . . . "

"Negatory," said Omega, stopping his snake-twirling for a moment. "It is highly appropriate, and I shall name it Noah. Many thanks, small hedgehog." He patted Maria carefully but affectionately on the head, and she glanced back at Shadow and beamed.

Meanwhile, Sonic came sidling back indoors, hiding something behind his back.

"Um, Amy?" he ventured.

"What is it, Sonic?" she asked, her eyes wide and eager.

"Well, uh, since I broke your vase and windows and stuff, I thought I'd just kinda make it up to you, just a little, so I, um . . . " Sonic, finding that the concept was somewhat difficult to explain, gave up and just held out his gift: a surprisingly charming wreath made out of the dried roses and other flowers. You'd never have guessed it wasn't store-bought.

"Ohhhhh, Sonic," whispered Amy, her eyes shining.

"Just 'cos I broke those windows!" cautioned Sonic, then yelped as Amy grabbed him in the usual strangling hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you! It's beautiful, Sonic!" she squealed.

"Uh—glad you think so," Sonic gulped, trying not to squirm too much. Tails caught his eye and silently brought his hands together three times.

Meanwhile, Team Chaotix was running their own interference.

"Charmy, we decided to give Santa a break this year," grinned Vector, pushing a wrapped package towards the little bee. "Tails made this, so you can thank him if you like it."

Charmy tried not to look dubious. If Tails was involved, he wasn't sure he'd be able to understand the item at all.

When he unwrapped it though, his eyes lit up.

"A drum?!" he whooped, grabbing up the drumsticks already. His face fell abruptly. "Hey . . . what's with these fluffy things on the sticks? I'll never be able to make any noise with these!"

"Try like this," said Espio, pulling a pair of headphones out of the wrapping paper and fitting them over Charmy's head. Charmy tapped the drum dubiously, then lit up all over again.

"It sounds just like a real one!" he exalted, and began to whack at the instrument furiously—in near-complete silence, to all but himself.

"You can connect it to speakers too, if you ever want to give a concert or something," Tails cheerfully told the deaf-to-the-world Charmy. "It's like an electric guitar, only it's a drum!"

"Gotta hand it to ya, Tails, you're a genius," said Vector.

"Aw, shucks," smiled Tails, rubbing a finger under his nose bashfully.

"Hey mate, can I have a try at that?" asked Marine, poking curiously at the electric drum.

Charmy was about to say no way, but reconsidered.

"Well . . . don't break it . . . " he said skeptically, and handed the headphones to Marine.

"Thanks mate!" grinned the little raccoon, and began to rattle away herself.

"And mine?" asked Rouge sweetly, glancing at Knuckles.

"Who says I got you anything?" asked Knuckles, folding his arms.

"Hmh," scoffed Rouge, and whisked quickly behind the echidna.

"Hey, don't—" Knuckles jumped. "Give that back! That's not for you!"

"Oh, of course, it must be for that other Rouge the Bat you know," retorted Rouge, reading the tag. Knuckles gritted his teeth—he'd been hoping for a slightly quieter, more private time to give Rouge that particular box.

"My, my," continued Rouge, squinting at the back of the tag. "Such a lovely little essay! To Rouge the Bat, From Knuckles, With Lots of—mmph!"

"Don't you _dare_ read it out loud," warned Knuckles, his mittened hand clamped firmly over Rouge's mouth.

"Hmph," muttered Rouge, pushing him off. "Fiiiine. I'll bet it's coal anyway, isn't it?" She flicked the box open and chuckled. "Yup. Looks like Welsh coal, too. High-quality stuff! You shouldn't have."

"Seriously, Knucklehead?" scoffed Sonic, flicking a bunched-up candy cane wrapper at the echidna's nose. "You got her coal?"

"I figured Santa was going to go easy on her again," muttered a red-faced Knuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. "She keeps saying she likes coal, anyway!"

"I do, actually," smirked Rouge. "If I save up enough of it, I plan to have it compressed."

"Yeah!" piped up Tails. "Coal and diamonds are actually made of the same stuff. When coal gets put under extreme heat and pressure deep inside the earth, it turns into diamonds!"

"There you go," agreed Rouge.

"Extreme pressure, huh?" said Knuckles. He folded his arms smugly. "Ah, I bet I could do that too."

"What, squeeze a piece of coal till it turns into a diamond?" Sonic laughed. "In your dreams, Knux."

"I could too! Just you wait, I'll show you someday!"

"Show us right now," grinned Sonic. "Rouge, are you attached to that coal there?"

"Not so attached that I don't want to see this," Rouge grinned back, and handed to coal off to Knuckles. "Let's see you squeeze that into a diamond, tough guy."

Knuckles studied the coal carefully, then took it firmly in his fists and gripped it as tightly as it could. There was a sharp crunching sound.

"There, I told you so!" Knuckles spread his hands, and a shower of shattered coal fragments fell from between them.

"Oh," he said flatly, as the others shouted with laughter.

"Ah, Knucklehead," Rouge laughed fondly, and crouched down to help a despondent Knuckles pick the bits of coal out of Amy's carpet. "Thanks a lot, you just broke my Christmas—ahh . . . "

Eyes wide, she brushed her finger over one of the fragments she had picked up. The coal dust rubbed away, revealing a glint of shimmering red. A little more rubbing revealed the entirety of a glowing red oval-shaped stone.

"Ha! Told you I could do it!" grinned Knuckles.

"This is . . . " Rouge looked up, her eyes narrowing. "You set this whole thing up, didn't you? Slipped this in with the coal after you crushed it?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"Seriously?"

"What?" protested Knuckles, getting defensive. "Geez, what're you getting mad about—"

"I'm _kidding,_ silly!" Rouge threw her arms around the echidna abruptly. "You're epic sometimes, you know that?"

"Gah," sputtered Knuckles, trying to squirm back far enough to continue breathing. "Rouge, echidnas—don't—turn into diamonds when you squeeze them!"

"Always worth a try," laughed Rouge. "Was that what you were out taking care of?! How did you know I wanted that stone, I didn't tell anyone till after you got back!"

"You did tell somebody," said Knuckles cryptically. "But seriously Rouge, how about for Christmas you let me breathe?"

"You're really fond of this whole breathing business, aren't you?" sighed Rouge, letting him go.

"Kinda," muttered Knuckles, testing if all his ribs were still there. He glanced around at the others and snorted. "Well, what're you all looking at? Nothing to see here! Scram!"

"Rrrrright," grinned Sonic, flicking another candy cane wrapper at Knuckles' head.

Shadow yawned drowsily. He'd been more or less blocking out the commotion for a while, and now he was getting sleepy all over again. The others were also becoming a little woozy; Marine and Charmy had outright passed out, leaning against each other, Marine clutching Charmy's new drum and Charmy snuggling up against her. It had to be Christmas if those two weren't squabbling.

Shadow woke up slightly as Maria settled down next to him on the sofa.

"I was going to record the aurora for you," he murmured, suddenly remembering. "But I guess the electrical disturbances would have messed up the recorder anyway . . . "

"It's all right." Maria snuggled up against him. "There'll always be another aurora, but there won't be another Christmas like this one."

"Mm," said Shadow, lapsing into a pleasant half-drowse again. It was, undeniably, kind of good to be here. He glanced sleepily around the room at the other Mobians, all rubbing eyes or dozing off. Usually, he didn't care to form attachments. He always liked to think that he was completely independent, not getting too close to anyone, but with this crew it was practically impossible to keep up. Sonic and all the others, if nothing else, taught him patience and kept him sharp. His teammates were the only ones who knew how to make him really angry, but also how to make him smile—and how to push his every last button, and still make him like it. No matter how much he tried to push them all away, they still wanted him home, still looked out for him, still would come to help him if he ever needed it. It was nice . . . geez, it was kind of nice knowing someone gave a darn about you.

And of course Maria, nestled against his shoulder with her eyelids growing heavy. Her, he would care about no matter what. Maybe sometime soon he could take her to Holoska with him, so she could hear the aurora herself.

"You know, I think I remember this," Maria spoke up, her head nodding. "On the ARK. We did this every year . . . we waited for Santa . . . "

"We saw him once, right?" whispered Shadow.

"Nnnno . . . tha' was . . . just Grandpa dressed up . . . " Maria chuckled drowsily. "You were so mad . . . " Her head lolled against his shoulder entirely, and she slipped off into a peaceful sleep. Shadow let his own head lean against the top of hers, and fell asleep as well. Late in the night, a tiptoeing pair of black boots edged up towards the two, and a pair of fur-trimmed gloves slipped a blanket around them.


End file.
